Passion and Pandemonium (CAOS)

8

"I must go, he will be expecting me." Lilith explained to Adrienne as morning broke. The clouds guarded the sun's light, leaving the forest under grey illumination. A pale dread was painted onto the demoness's face. Adrienne found herself feeling worried to see the powerful Lilith looking scared. The devil was incredibly powerful whilst locked in Hell. On Earth, he would, Adrienne thought, be completely unstoppable. Surely, would all witches who worshipped him would be protected by his wrath against the false god's creations?
A shiver ran down the woman's spine.

"Must I go too?" Adrienne whispered, leaning her head towards Lilith. Sweet Sabrina still knew nothing of Adrienne's interactions with the dark lord and now felt like the worst time to publicise it.

Lilith and Adrienne stood a few meters away from Nick, Ambrose, and Sabrina. The body of the Mandrake lay on the floor. Adrienne couldn't begin to imagine the emotional complexities of seeing one's own image and body on the floor, dead. The alive and true Sabrina had a look of immense guilt. The Devil, and Lilith, had played her perfectly into completely the prophecy. Under different circumstances, Adrienne would have unleashed a couple of nasty curses to make Lilith pay for manipulating Sabrina. However, she could see the fear in Lilith's own eyes. The woman had also been manipulated, perhaps for millennia.

Adrienne could feel herself becoming disgusted by her strange attraction to Lucifer. He'd seduced her with his beauty and power: the two things she had been raised to admire and take pride in for her own self. She had to push past this seduction and claim her own power. She didn't want to end up like the great Lilith and be at the whim of a man.

Lilith had paused before answering Adrienne's question. It seemed she was listening to a voice in the wind.

"No. he is only asking for me."
Adrienne found herself reach for Lilith's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The demoness seemed taken aback by the action. She smiled at the gesture. She took her leave, disappearing in front of Adrienne after muttering the spell for teleportation.

Nick left to go see if he could find any research at the academy. He had been the one to find the prophecy that Sabrina had fulfilled. Everyone hoped his researching skills would result in another useful find in good time.
Adrienne and the younger Spellmans returned home and waited, tentatively, for Hilda and Zelda to wake up while consulting whatever books they could in the library.

For a while it was mostly Ambrose looking through books whilst Adrienne sat on a large red armchair, hugging a shock-ridden Sabrina. She whispered a spell for strength, with her lips pressed against the crown of Sabrina's head.

"Thanks Ada," Sabrina whispered, holding back a sob. "I can't believe this is happening. What if we can't stop anything and it's all just some cruel joke?"

"Well, as long as we have our objections and the illusion of free will, I say we push back." Adrienne suggested. From a few meters away Ambrose nodded in agreement, his eyes were distant and unfocused. He appeared deep in thought.

A bitter smile formed on Sabrina's face, and she straightened her posture. "Okay, let's look through some books. Ambrose, have you found anything yet?"

Sabrina's cousin snapped out of his daze and looked up. "Oh, uh, not really. I fear we will have to go through half the library before we glean anything useful."

Although everything seemed about to go wrong at any moment, Adrienne found herself trying to maintain her morning routine. She ate her breakfast, washed her face, and found herself a comfortable black jumpsuit and red velvet blazer to wear paired with black ankle boots. She braided her hair, so it fell over one side of her shoulder with a few front pieces falling loose around her face. Getting into clean clothes helped her feel able to focus on the impending chaos. It felt like a trait she had picked up from Zelda, who often refused to diffuse a matter without feeling beautiful and powerful.

Once she came downstairs, Zelda and Hilda were in the kitchen. Ambrose and Sabrina were still deeply immersed in books. The aunts looked oblivious and well rested.

"Good morning, darling, you look lovely." Zelda commented. Adrienne smiled and sat down at the table. "Although, you're looking exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?" Zelda reached out to Adrienne's face. "I've got a marvellous glamour cream that will make you look less exhausted in mere minutes."

"I did not sleep well. Have you both eaten your breakfast?"

"Yes dear, would you like some?" Hilda smiled, grabbing a plate for Adrienne. "I've made pancakes."

In response, Adrienne's stomach growled. She was incredibly hungry. She sat down and ate. She did her best to not eat too fast.

"What happened last night?" Zelda asked.
"Also, Sabrina was acting quite strange yesterday, is she alright?"

"Sabrina and Ambrose are in the library. They'll tell you everything in more detail." Adrienne did not want to speak for Sabrina in case there were personal things she wanted to omit. "It's a lot of information and I suggest you all sit down in the living room. I will be going out this morning to give you all privacy. I need to think for a bit."

"You sure you're alright dear?" Hilda frowned.

"I'm sure I'm doing better than my dear nightcousin. The dark lord has used her well."
Hilda and Zelda were beginning to form lines of worry onto their faces. They both stood up from the table and headed towards the library. Zelda paused, touching Adrienne's shoulder before she took her leave.
The woman sighed and brought the three empty plates to the sink before heading outside.

Adrienne had decided to go for a walk while Sabrina and Ambrose filled in the elder Spellmans of the night's events. She'd encouraged them to tell Hilda and Zelda of her whereabouts in case they were worried. She just needed to process everything and think about what she was to do next.
The academy hadn't been welcoming lately and Father Blackwood would probably not grant refuge to Adrienne and the Spellmans. It felt like her work at the church of night was on hold while apocalypse threatened to come to town.

Adrienne's walk took her to where she and Ambrose had set up camp the day before. There was a pile of ash and charred wood remaining from the fire, its warm smoked scent still permeated the air. The soft blow of the wind invited her to take a deep breath. How, for merely a moment, peaceful things had felt the other night.

She continued her walk further into the woods. It felt like a crucial moment to sit by the river and think.
She didn't get that far before she heard a twig snapping nearby. She slowed, wondering if she would see an animal of some kind.

Instead, he emerged from behind a tree. In the flesh, free from the dream realm. 

Lucifer.

"Adrienne." He spoke her name with such softness. He looked exactly as he had in her dream except his feet were cloven hooves, reminiscent of his monstrous devil form. She sucked in a breath, caught off-guard. He was beautiful. He wore a beautiful red long sleeve shirt and black trousers. Adrienne had seen similar clothing in Dorian's wardrobe back when they were seeing each other for a short while.

Adrienne didn't know what to say. Part of her simply wanted to say 'hello' and the other part wanted to rush to him and taste his lips on hers, reclaiming the memories of that dream which played on her mind incessantly. Another part of her was screaming at her 'It's Lucifer! It's the one that you and many others pray to. It is your lord. Fall to the ground now and be at his thrall'.
She felt the warmth of her blood rushing around her body. She could not discern whether she was afraid or excited.

"Although you could have done better with the task, I gave you. It was seen through. I am on earth in my angelic form once more." His words were perfectly balanced. Criticising her shortcomings whilst praising the ultimate success. She wondered if that was how he was able to keep people like Lilith constantly in his service, desperate for his approval. Receiving praise from such a form of power and angelic beauty was an understandable drug.

"Come. There is much to do." He extended a hand to her.

Adrienne continued to stay still, overwhelmed.

"What happens if I take your hand?" She finally spoke, shakily. She felt a pang of jealousy towards Sabrina who was always able to speak so confidently when faced with anyone. Adrienne wished for the same talent.

"The beginning of our new world. You, me, Sabrina, and Lilith. You will become part of Hell's royalty."
Our?
Royalty?
Adrienne wanted to be a leader of sorts, but she didn't know if royalty was something she'd ever considered nor dreamed of.

"Why have you been picking on my nightcousin?" Adrienne asked. Sabrina would definitely not want to be part of 'Hell's Royality', she was hardly comfortable with even the simplest of Witch traditions.

"Do you mean bestowing great gifts? And she is not your nightcousin." Lucifer began. "She is my daughter."
Adrienne tried her best not to open her mouth too wide in surprise.
Of course, out of all the beings she could have found herself attracted to, it was not only a DILF but one of her close friends and adopted cousin's fathers.

In another situation, Adrienne would have laughed at her peculiar 'dating' history. She imagined the look on Sabrina's mortal friends' faces if she'd ever describe her lovers to them, finishing with 'oh, and lucifer offered me a place amongst Hell's royalty and we had incredible dream sex whilst he was still locked in Hell'.

He wasn't locked in Hell anymore. Sabrina had done her work as herald and freed him onto Earth. He stood before her. Out of all of the witches he could have chosen, he stood before her and spoke of her, Lilith and Sabrina as significant. A weird part of Adrienne hoped that Lilith was finally getting what she had been desperate for. What was Lucifer expecting the three women to do? What role would Sabrina have as the daughter of the Devil? What role would Adrienne have?

She took a deep breath, trembling. She still hadn't given him an answer. She wondered if her answering would make any different. As Sabrina's recent history had shown, the Devil had a plan that could not be rejected.