Let It Slip

Part IX

Forced to her knees by the angle of the fiery cage Lilith had conjured up around her, Zelda reached out to test her bounds and quickly pulled her hand back, the flames searing hot against her skin. Her mind whirled. Baron Samedi had brought her to Hell, assuming that he could use it as a placeholder until he was able to bring her home...wherever that was. Ever the wildcard, Lilith was not one to be fooled and Zelda wasn't sure if she had just gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire or if the Queen of Hell would take mercy on her. As it always had been with Lilith, Zelda was not confident the witch would save her or that she even cared. It was just as likely that this fiery cage was meant to hold her hostage as Lilith's plaything for eternity.

Movement on the throne caught her eye and she watched as Lilith began to float towards her, the long raven-feathered train hurriedly picked up by a set of minions who held it up as if she were in a bridal gown. Stopping just before the fiery cage, Lilith slowly bent her knees and landed on the back of one of the minions, who had quickly scurried from its place at the train to kneeling on all fours to become her stool. Settling on her seat, Lilith leaned forward and peered into her cage.

"My my...never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see you, Zelda Spellman." Lilith reached forward as if she were about to touch the cage but then she pulled back and straightened, as if she couldn't be seen to soften, "What in Hell's name were you doing making a deal with Samedi?"

Zelda sighed, deep shame flooding her body as she realized this predicament was worse than swallowing her pride and having to ask Hilda to help her die with dignity. Now she found herself imprisoned twice over with her future in the hands of an unpredictable demon-witch and a death deity. She decided to be honest as she whispered hopelessly, "I thought he could bring Sabrina back."

Lilith's face twitched, a physical reaction to the twinge of emotion she felt at the mention of Sabrina's name. With that name a flood of memories threatened to capsize her and she ground her heel onto the hand of the minion she sat on, his whimpers calming her aching soul. Her cruelty was a reminder of her strength, something she'd fought to preserve all of these years in the face of the many who had scoffed at a female ruler of Hell. She used it as a coping mechanism to avoid feeling anything too intense. With over a hundred years as ruler of Hell, she had learned that feeling very little was required for the job she was expected to do.

"Why didn't you summon me to help you?" The weight of Lilith's renewed feelings for Zelda dragged the tone of her voice down to a low growl.

Zelda's head snapped up and without thinking she reached out to grasp the fiery bars of her cage, crying out as they burned her palms and tears sprang to her eyes from the pain, "Can you help me?"

The redhead held the brunette's gaze with her sparkling emeralds full of hope, her memories surfacing shakily as if the years of MemoryTech support had made the automatic retrieval so much more challenging. She saw Lilith in the first moment they met, on the stairs of the Mortuary, the first moment where she had been both intrigued and beguiled by her. The faint smell of sulfur that had lingered when she'd passed Zelda to leave, enough to add to the mystery but not so much to raise suspicions as to who she was.

Zelda began to tremble with the intensity of the memories that rose all on their own; the memory of the moment when Lilith had revealed herself as the First Woman was the exact moment Zelda had fallen for her despite her reservations, despite the persistent nagging that Lilith couldn't be trusted. That nagging gave way to experience as time and time again, Lilith behaved impulsively and with her own best interests at heart first and foremost. Intellectually, Zelda understood that Lilith's precarious position in life due to her relationship with Lucifer made it impossible for her to be any other way....and so, Zelda had loved her despite the uncertainty but she vowed never to let her in.