IN THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM, a bright orange ember soon erupted into a whirlwind of amber flame, that quickly died out in a puff of dark smoke, revealed a flustered Sera standing in its place.
"Oh praise Hecate you're safe, it's been too long," Zelda exclaimed, rushing to greet the angel whom she had grown very fond of whilst she had lived with them following her exile. "Sabrina, Ambrose, Hilda, our niece has returned!"
"Hecate?" Sera asked,
"Well dove, we didn't think that it was fitting to worship the Dark Lord after... everything." Hilda said, taking her into her arms.
After finding out he planned to enslave their realm. After imprisoning him.
"And why not me?" Sera teased, feigning offence.
Zelda scoffed, "Your ego is too big as it is, Sera."
She rolled her eyes, biting back a laugh. "Thanks, Aunt Zee."
"Cousin!" Ambrose greeted happily, pulling her into a quick hug, "Do tell me, how is hell?"
The angel let out a slight chuckle, "That is a whole other conversation, and I suggest we all sit down for it," There was a hint of something in her vice Ambrose couldn't put his finger on, something between annoyance and sadness, it seemed. "Brina it's good to see you again," She smiled, pulling her in for a hug,
"Are you okay after you know... Herod?" The witch asked,
Sera nodded, "My ego is severely bruised, but I'll live," She chuckled. "Was the oil of any use?"
"Using it under the night of the hare moon it may just give us enough charge to restore our waning magic," Zelda answered, seemingly eager to change the subject.
"Do want some tea, love?" Hilda fussed, "And I've just made some muffins if you'd like one?"
Sera smiled, "Please, auntie."
She'd missed this. Their company, their home.
"Have you been sleeping okay?" Hilda asked, "Any nightmares?"
Sera shook her head, "It's been fine."
It had been far from fine. But she didn't want to burden them further. Her last goodbye should have been forever. She shouldn't keep coming back to the mortal realm, sneaking visits. The longer she clung to this place, this town, this house, these people, the harder it would be to let go, to forget them. And it would make it harder for them to forget her.
She sighed, "I know I shouldn't keep coming back, but I... I miss you all. Everything's so different there, in Hell."
"Oh dove, you'll always be welcome here." Hilda hummed, plating up her muffins.
Sera smiled softly to herself, taking the seat at the table where she had always eaten. Her chair. "Do you remember the prince I told you about?" Sera asked,
"Caliban?" Ambrose questioned, "The prince who left us to Herod?"
Sera grimaced, "Yes, him." She said, "He's uhm, he was made from the clay of the pit- it's a long story, but he told me last night that his soul was... tethered to mine through whatever spell turned him to flesh, I guess sort of like-"
"Soulmates?" Sabrina finished her tone more of a question.
Sera nodded. "But he's just confusing everything, I- I mean, these trials are to the death. I don't want to kill him but the only other way out is, well... marriage."
"Marriage?" Ambrose asked, "You saw him, Sera. He left you to die with Herod. He's not the kind of man you want to marry."
She sighed, taking a bite of her muffin. "I know," She murmured, "But he's not the kind of man that I want to kill either."
"Have you considered that perhaps the dreams are a result of his magic, and he's been manipulating you all along, using you for power?" Zelda asked with an arched brow.
"I h-" Sera stopped dead when she saw the flames. Swirling, whooshing. She knew it was him before he appeared. She could almost feel his presence.
"By Hecate-" Zelda swore.
"I never have understood the appeal of the triple goddess." Caliban wasn't alone.
Caliban arched a brow, "She's three women all at one time, there is something quite intriguing about that, Lord Lucifer."
The Dark Lord chuckled at that.
"Lucifer..." Ambrose breathed, eyes widened in a place between awe and fear.
He flashed a devilish grin, "In the flesh."
"How?" Sera choked out. How was he back? He was meant to be trapped in Nick's body...
Sabrina flushed a deep shade of crimson.
"Sabrina, what did you do?" Zelda hissed.
Lucifer turned to Sabrina, as though he had only just noticed her presence. "Ah, false daughter." He chided, brow raised.
"False father," She greeted in turn, tone bitter and brimming with malice.
"Sabrina!" Zelda snapped, features contorting with rage.
"I- uhm..." She swallowed, throat bobbing nervously as she glanced around. "I took Nick to the Academy and I-"
"You freed him?" Zelda snapped,
"Not intentionally!" Sabrina defended, palms raised.
Sera ignored their bickering. "What are you doing here?" She hissed at Caliban.
It was her father who answered for him.
"You, daughter, are only allowed in the Mortal Realm for business. You know that. Be grateful that I do not have you thrown in the pit." He snarled. "Come now, I am to end this trivial quest of yours before you wind up dead."
Sera bit back a snide remark or threat. She cast a final longing glance at her family, and then vanished in a whorl of flames.
꧁꧂
"Settle down, settle down." Lucifer hissed.
The court hushed immediately.
Sera longed to hold such authority over them, as he did, as Caliban did.
"I have returned to you all," The Dark Lord declared. "And I hear there has been a..." He cast Sera a bitter glance. "Challenge, in my absence. I am also aware that it cannot conclude until a victor is revealed."
"With all due respect, my lord," Purson leered, "The throne no longer belongs to-"
"Think carefully, Purson," Lucifer warned. "Of what you are about to say. Currently, it belongs to me. Until this trial concludes."
"As infernal law states, there are only two ways this trial can end. With a single victor, or through alignment between them." Beelzebub said. "Or, although highly unlikely, both participants can step down."
"I will not step down." Sera bristled. "I will either end this as queen, or dead."
She would die if it came to that. Backing down wasn't an option. If she gave up it would mean all those years, all that torture for being his daughter, for being impure, it would be for noting,
"Neither will I," Caliban smirked.
"Very well," the Dark Lord sighed. "What would it take, daughter, to convince you to step down."
The ghost of a smile danced at her lips. "You'd have to kill me," she answered simply. She wanted to punish him with whatever small defiances she could muster.
"Not even for your wings?"
Her smile was gone. Just like that. "You have them?"
"No, but I can retrieve them." The Dark Lord coaxed, his tone almost an illusion of paternal concern.
Sera paused for a moment, mulling over her options. "I don't want them." She said finally. "There is nothing that you can give me that will change my mind."
"How about a reunion with your mother?"
Sera grimaced. "She's dead. She was killed." She didn't tell him that she had been the one to do it. "There is nothing I want more than the throne."
"And how about aligning?" Caliban asked with an arched brow. "We end this quest."
Sera thought about what he had said, about offering her ways out. Here he was again, offering her a swift, dignified exit. But it didn't feel dignified to her. Sera knew about queendom, especially in the infernal realm. A married queen was a placeholder, another accessory for her husband. If she became his wife she would be as good as any other subject in this realm, perhaps with better dresses and a far grander home, but she would remain powerless, and all her pain would amount to nothing.
"Why should I?" Sera bristled, "When I could win and rule alone instead."
"And you would kill me for it?" He smirked. He knew her answer. No matter how much she had suffered for being her father's daughter, she wouldn't kill Caliban, for the simple reason that she had come to care for him too deeply over 20 years of dreams, and he had come to know her far too well.
"If it came down to it." She said. They both knew it was a lie.
"Do not be stubborn girl," Her father leered, "You will not rule without a husband and Caliban is the perfect solution. He is made of clay so he cannot pollute the Morningstar bloodline. He has allies in further regions and he has the support of the courts. Do not think with your heart, listen to your head."
"You do not dictate who and if I wed." Sera snapped. "That choice is mine and mine alone."
"As your father-"
"You are not my father. You are nothing to me." She said, pushing back against the lump in her throat. "You are the reason for my suffering do you not see? Do you not see what I have endured because of you? What I have lost?"
"You will lose more if you continue to act like a petulant brat." The Dark Lord seethed in turn.
"Be careful," Sera hissed, "Or I'll cut out that smart tongue of yours."
His eyes were bright with rage. If she had not been his daughter, his heir, the dark Lord would have ripped her heart from her body and thrown her to the crows. "She's your problem now, Caliban." He leered, "and I cannot wait to get her off my hands."
"You left me to rot. I was never your problem to begin with. You never gave a shit what happened to me until I threatened you power!"
"I assure you, Seraphina, I never left you. I have always watched you. And your wrath, when you have shown it has been magnificent. Wether you like it or not, you are my daughter. And wether I like it or not, I am your father." He said coldly, standing from his seat.
"You watched?" She was deathly pale. He watched. That had to mean...
"Yes, daughter. I saw what you did."
At that her blood ran cold.