Let It Slip

Part III

The shock of seeing Marie forced Zelda's breath into her throat and she let out a near whimper, closing her eyes against the touch on her cheek, the intensity of her emotions far surpassing the physical pain in her body. She felt Marie's slender fingers curl around her neck tenderly, lifting her head and placing it in her lap. Opening her eyes, she looked up at the face that smiled down at her as nimber fingers toyed with crimson tresses and lost themselves in her hair.

"It has been some time, Zelda Spellman. While I am happy to see you, I am wondering why you've called me here?" Marie's fingers were a welcome distraction from the pain and Zelda realized just how long it had been since she'd allowed herself to be touched; even Hilda was rarely allowed within arm's length of her sister. A cruelty placed on the witch entirely by herself - another punishment.

"I called you...." Zelda swallowed the lump in her throat along with her pride. "...because I am ready to do whatever it is you need me to do to bring Sabrina back." The emerald orbs that met Marie's were full of tears as she whispered, "Please, Marie, I can't keep living like this."

The elder Spellman didn't need the MemoryTech to bring back her memories of Mambo Marie, they drowned her in achingly vivid detail. To keep from being swept away in her emotions, Zelda focused on Marie's rum-scented breath, a reminder that she was not as she appeared. It helped to center Zelda and gave her more resolve, steeling herself against her own reaction.

Marie swept Zelda's hair off of her brow and traced the curve of her cheekbone, to rest against her jaw as she muttered to herself; "Pourquoi je me sense si malheureuse?"

"Because I'm miserable and you know it." Zelda growled fiercely, "You owe me Baron, after...this...." Zelda motioned to Marie's form, "Give this boon to me and I'll give you whatever you want in return."

Marie's eyes flashed and Zelda thought she saw a flicker of Baron Samedi's features shimmer in place of the Voodoo Priestess', "As much as I would adore taking you up on that offer, I'm afraid I cannot."

Zelda tried to sit up but her body would not cooperate and she fell back, her voice rising, "Tell me why. Why won't you ease my suffering? Did you not care for me at all?!"

"On the contrary, ma cherie, I did care very deeply for you. It is the biggest regret of my life that I hurt you - you were not just another conquest to me. But I cannot fulfill your wish because Sabrina is not among the Dead." Marie shifted to kneel alongside Zelda, gently placing her head back against the floor.

"What do you mean she's not among the Dead? Of course she is! I watched her die. I let her die!" The tears came, unabashedly and without reservation, the familiarity and comfort she had once felt with Marie was the key that opened the floodgates. She could only move her head to the side and look away in an attempt to maintain some semblance of dignity.

Marie wiped at the tears streaking Zelda's cheeks and placed the palm of her hand against the witch's heart, "Je suis désolé, but Sabrina is in the Hereafter. It is a place between the Dead and the Living. I have no pouvoir in the Hereafter, I cannot reach her and she cannot accept my reach."

Hopelessness threatened to turn everything black, her vision blurring, her stomach churning, Zelda managed to violently thrust herself onto her side and wretch. Having nothing but pills in her stomach, she felt the burn of acid without the satisfaction of anything else. Her face pressed against the ground as she tried to disappear into the floorboards, begging the house to swallow her whole. A keening wail escaped her, echoing along the empty halls as Mambo Marie beared witness to a century of pain culminating in this moment. Hope lost.

"Zelda, s'il te plait, calmez vous." Marie's voice was soft but firm as she grabbed Zelda's shoulders and pressed her into the ground, raising her voice above the emotional cacophony, "She is happy! Please Zelda, listen, Sabrina is content where she is." Shuddering deeply, Zelda forced herself to stop, taking deep breaths in violent gulps, trying to process what Marie said with wide eyes.

"It's true, Sabrina made a choice and she is happy with the outcome of her choices. The Hereafter has become her and she it, she has lost her connection with this world and the next. She is neither dead nor alive and in that purgatory-like state, she is out of my reach. Out of yours." Marie wiped at Zelda's tear-stained face with a tobacco-stained handkerchief.

Zelda was speechless. She felt numb, empty, unsure of what the next step was. The adrenaline rush seeping out of her, ushering in the pain from the fall to such an intensity she closed her eyes and groaned; feeling Marie's hands on her, moving from her head to her neck, pressing against her heart, ribs, kidneys, and down through the bones of her skeleton and back up, her fingers sliding behind Zelda's ear to brush lightly against the implant.

The Southern deity's drawl was thick and her voice grumbled low as the Baron spoke, "Mais toi, ma chérie, you are not well. What have you done to yourself?"

When Zelda didn't bother to reply, the Baron's voice shifted once more to Marie's warm lilt, "I can take away your pain, Zelda. You can finally be free, after all this time. Would you like that, ma fleur?"

Zelda hesitated, the change in voice bringing along with it a sense of dread. With a smile snaking across her face, Marie waved her hand and muttered a few Creole words then dug her nails into Zelda's neck behind her ear. With a cry, Zelda jerked away from Marie's hand but she dug deeper and finally extracted the implant, tossing it aside and dipping down to place her lips over the holes. Zelda felt the suction of Marie's lips, draining her, and when Marie straightened with black tar staining her lips, Zelda's body felt no pain.

"This is what I offer you, Zelda Spellman, a life devoid of pain. In return, I ask that you give me just that - your life." Reaching down, Marie pulled Zelda into a sitting position to prove that the pain was gone and she could move freely.

Stunned, Zelda sat for a quiet moment then moved slowly, testing her limbs, gazing up at the staircase she had just tumbled down, and watching in awe as her body complied with her request to get to her feet. Leaning against the wall, more out of surprise than need, Zelda stared at Mambo Marie as she wiped the poisonous black from her lips. Reaching up, she touched the slightly tender divot in her skin where the implant used to be and had a moment of panic, thinking that she would never see Sabrina again.

"She....she's happy?" Zelda's gaze shifted from the implant on the floor to Marie's eyes.

"Oui, je te promets. She has created her own happily ever Here-after." Marie grinned at her clever word play but Zelda just sighed heavily. "Come, mon amour, viens avec moi to a world without pain, without suffering, without sorrow."

Zelda considered the woman before her, knowing that if she accepted she would be accepting a deal with Baron Samedi. Pushing off the wall, the redheaded witch straightened her spine and crossed an arm over her torso, resting her elbow on it with her hand in the air in true High Priestess fashion. About the open her mouth to protest, feeling like she might be able to find value in her life now that she knew Sabrina was happy, she was silenced by Marie's hand rising in front of her.

"It is no use Zelda, you are already dead. What you have done to yourself is irreversible and too far gone to treat. The toxic waste you allowed into your body has leached into every vein and your bloodstream oozes with it. It is a miracle you have lived this long but trust me, darling, if I leave here without you, you will be back on this floor. Broken and alone." Marie's voice was warm but her eyes glittered with hunger.

Lifting her chin, Zelda mustered all the dignity left in her centuries old form and walked coldly past Mambo Marie, her hand twisting the knob of the front door and swinging it open. Moving onto the porch, Zelda turned towards the cemetery she'd spent so many years staring at and did not hesitate to walk down the stairs and onto the path towards it. Stopping between Sabrina Spellman and Sabrina Morningstar's gravestones, Zelda placed her hands atop of them and turned a steely gaze to where Mambo Marie had stood. In the Voodoo Priestess' place stood Baron Samedi, smoking a thick cigar, his nostrils plugged with cotton in preparation for a Haitian burial.

With a glare, Zelda cocked her head at the Gede Loa, bolstered with the confidence of her decision and the lack of pain, feeling like herself for the first time in several decades; "Well? Hurry up then, let's get this over with."

Baron Samedi's belly-full chuckle rang out into the night as he took his time joining Zelda in the cemetery. Pulling deeply from his cigar, he blew a large cloud across an empty space between the two Sabrinas, waving his hand and murmuring ancient Creole; as the smoke settled, a shallow grave appeared in front of Zelda.

Baron swept his hand out over the grave, her voice a liquor-soaked siren in a stormy sea; "Apres vous..."