Passion and Pandemonium (CAOS)

15

Dorian had closed his bar for the night and was preparing for bed. He sat back on one of his armchairs beside the fireplace re-reading Sentimental Education by Gustav Flaubert. He smelled the sweet and smoky embers of hell before he saw the painting morph and convex, spitting out Adrienne's body.

"As promised, and more." She held out a fist of 4 flowers after regaining balance. "I can make up one or two of them into a toner for you if you'd like."

Dorian carefully took them and whispered a healing spell over Adrienne's thorn pricked palm. "Here or in your new kingdom?"

"Here. Your bar should have most of the ingredients." She gestured to the impressive shelf of alcohols and botanicals behind the bar table.

"The crown suits you." Dorian acknowledged the golden crown upon Adrienne's head. It looked like many spindly golden fingers reaching up.

"I hate it. It's heavy and uncomfortable. I am wearing it for recognition. Once everyone in Hell knows me, I'll take it off."

"You've really grown into yourself lately, Ada." Dorian smiled lightly, thinking back to Adrienne's ambitious side which he'd had the joy of seeing more often than others.

Adrienne was grateful that Dorian was still her friend. She would have hated to have felt truly alone. Dorian had always seen her for who she wanted to be and not judged her for it. Probably because he had his own questionable dark characteristics which had been forgotten or celebrated with age amongst the other witches. Until Sabrina came and upended witch traditions like an angry baby pushing things off from a table.

"Sabrina took Scratch and Lucifer is still within him." Adrienne told Dorian.

"Yes. I was here when they arrived. I do not know where they have taken him, but I have some idea." Dorian closed his book and rose from his armchair.

"Dungeon?" Adrienne guessed. "Or the mortuary or the woods?"

"I would guess the dungeon." He agreed. "Somewhere people wouldn't regularly visit that has soundproof walls."

Adrienne helped herself to the numerous bottles behind Dorian's bar and soaked the flowers in a solution. "Leave this for a few hours. I will come finish it after I have visited the dungeons."

"I'd prefer to head to bed and lock up my venue, Ada dear." 

Dorian's bar was warded and often no one could simply teleport into the room unless the warding was taken down.  

"That's fine." She held out her hand and beckoned. "Key, please. I will have to get back inside, and I'll do it responsibly rather than breaking down your door like I did six years ago." 

"Ah, yes, that was a tad dramatic for you."

Adrienne gave him a smile, not needing to explain herself again to him years later. He handed her a beautifully ornate key with a string to wear as a necklace.

He began to walk away, "If you need me, please don't wake me unless the building is on fire or there are angels attacking." He sighed, exhausted.

"Where's my bag?" Adrienne asked, seeming to ignore his request. Dorian turned around and blinked twice, startled yet awed.

"Why are you naked?" Indeed, Adrienne was naked in his parlour, and it was not the first time he had seen her like that in that location. Though it was the first time in a while. Her sleek black hair stopped just above her belly button. Dorian found himself momentarily transported into his memories of numerous Lupercalias spent with Adrienne, running in the woods, nude and giggling.

"I was going to just change clothes to not look so obvious while traipsing through the academy."

"Just go as you are." He jested. He walked away for a minute and returned with Adrienne's bag. "I wasn't going to leave it in the middle of the bar. It's unprofessional and not at all aesthetic." Dorian had half a mind to ask if Adrienne was both teasing him and having a slight power-trip whilst standing nude with the crown of Hell on her head in the middle of his bar.

Adrienne shrugged and grabbed a simple high collar black dress out of the bag. If she wore her hair up, she would look like many of the female students and teachers at the academy.

She carefully folded away her Pandemonium dress and put it in her bag.

"Shall I take your bag, milady?" Dorian extended his arm to take the bag. Adrienne could hear the fatigue in his voice.

"Thanks," She smiled, "Sleep well. I'll try and keep my distance, so you get a few hours." She zipped up some pointed ankle boots she had found in her bag, muttered a glamour spell to hide her appearance, and headed up the stairs.

The academy was quiet, and it was not long before Adrienne was carefully walking down the corridors to the dungeon. She opened the dungeon door and looked at the half-naked body that was chained to the floor.

"Have you heard them? They pray to Lilith now!" Lucifer was enraged. His form was fully visible to Adrienne whereas in Hell it had been the body of Nicholas Scratch with Lucifer's eyes. He had taken dominance over Nick's body. He was changed to the floor of the dungeon. It looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"I have been in Hell maintaining the throne. I was not aware." Adrienne answered honestly. She crouched down to be near him and check for any injury.

"I have sent them a gift to remind them who their true god is." He told her. Adrienne wondered what he had done and how it would affect the coven. A brief second of concern for Ambrose, Zelda and Hilda washed over her but she shook it away.

"I can free you now." Adrienne moved her fingers to his chains and tested them. They were strong and heavy. Wear marks had started to appear on Lucifer's wrist and legs.

"With what?" His voice was softer, and she could feel his breath on her skin. "You have no key nor weapon that can break Damascus steel."

"I am certain there is a way. Concentrated hellfire perhaps. Surely, we must not consider tools of the false god to be more powerful that you?" She suggested with true devotion and admiration for the dark arts she served. Lucifer seemed to give her a smile and nod in agreement.

Adrienne took a deep breath and tried to focus Hellfire on one of the chains. It appeared to glow and morph slightly but then Adrienne had to stop. She would need a conduit or a spell enhancer to burn through the chain. She had not yet learned nor mastered the elements of Hell.

"You are marvellous." Lucifer praised. "Enough concentrated Hellfire might do the trick."

Adrienne looked up at him and smiled. She had wanted to kiss him as soon as she saw him, but she remembered he was within Nicholas Scratch's body. She wondered if that meant she was kissing Nicholas Scratch too. She didn't mind the idea of kissing two people; she just didn't want to kiss Sabrina's boyfriend.

"When I return, I will have a method to truly free you." She stood up and walked behind him so she could disrupt the salt circle in a place Sabrina wouldn't see. Unless she entered the room and checked meticulously. Adrienne hoped Nicholas Scratch wasn't listening to the conversation she and Lucifer was having. She didn't need Sabrina to know their plan.

She walked back around to face Lucifer and took his form in. His strong torso was exposed, and his dark hair was a mess. Despite the circumstances, he watched her with his distinct stare which made Adrienne's body come alive.

"Fuck it." Addressing her earlier thoughts, she knelt to kiss him. It was clear that Nicholas was becoming weakener as a flesh Acheron and Lucifer would eventually break free. Lucifer returned her kiss. The chains around his wrists rattled as he fought them, trying to embrace her to no avail. Adrienne used this moment to run her hand through his black hair and gently pull on it to lift his head to hers more. Lucifer gasped and chuckled at her confidence before returning to the kiss.

Lucifer's head turned and the kiss broke as he heard footsteps. "Sabrina is coming. Go now and return to me soon."

Adrienne quickly teleported back to Dorian's door just before the dungeon door was opened.