Let It Slip

Part XV

Zelda held the intensity of Lilith's gaze as she watched the Queen of Hell raise her brow and felt her snatch the spear-like weapon from Zelda's grip. Praying to the Goddess Hecate out of habit, Zelda was desperate for Lilith to call an end to the charade. As the dark haired witch made her way down the steps of her throne towards the chained prisoner, Zelda tried to mentally prepare herself for bloodshed. Ambrose stood tall, his chin raised, as he looked up at his aunt and nodded, graciously accepting whatever fate befell him.

Lilith landed and moved swiftly to Ambrose, dragging her hand through his hair and wrenching his head back, the sharp spear of the Bec de Corbin pressed to his throat; "Did you really think you would storm my Castle with no consequences, Spellman?"

Zelda grimaced as she watched a drop of blood pool at the tip of the spear against Ambrose' neck and she started jogging down the steps, "Lilith, wait!"

With a snarl, Lilith spun around swiftly and launched her weapon like a javelin. Zelda processed the whistling sound as it flew through the air just in time to feel the sharp edge sink deep into her belly. With a groan, the witch bent forward and toppled head over feet down the stairs to land in a heap at Lilith's feet as Ambrose cried out.

"Take him back to the Academy." Lilith barked at her minion as Zelda began to bleed out onto the stone floor. Reaching out, the Queen of Hell grabbed Ambrose' chin in a painful grip; "....and don't let me see your face ever again. Your Aunt doesn't belong to you anymore. She's mine and that was her decision to make. Stop interfering. If I see so much as a fingernail that smells of you, I will set your precious school on fire with all of you in it."

Ambrose swallowed, seeing the flames of Hell reflected in the eyes of the witch who would hold dear all the threats she made as promises. With his eyes full of tears, he took one last look at his precious Auntie Zee, then the minion conjured the flames to take him back. Lilith rolled her eyes and turned on her heel with an irritated sigh, backing away from the blood; "Now look at this damned mess, Zelda."

Coughing, Zelda felt the wet warmth of blood bubbling over her bottom lip. The pain was excruciating and she curled around the weapon protruding from her, trying to crawl backwards and away from Lilith who just snarled and stomped down on the shaft of the Bec de Corbin, halting her progress. Zelda roared as the white-hot pain flared through her entire torso, a river of blood gushing from the wound Lilith disrupted with her callous movement.

"Oh stop whining. I told you you would suffer." Leaning down, Lilith yanked the Bec de Corbin out of Zelda and tossed it aside, blood splattering a trail from the witch to the weapon.

Zelda gagged from the pain and fainted, the reprieve brief but full of grace, when she came back the pain hit her with such force that she gasped, trying to catch her breath. Her entire body shook as she tried to force movement into it, her wound weeping as she slowly got to her hands and knees. Desperately reaching behind her to pull off her heels, knowing she would never stand on them in her state, she stumbled to put one leg beneath her. Using every ounce of strength she had to push herself to standing, turning to face Lilith, pain written in the grimace across her face. Lilith's brows lifted as she watched Zelda Spellman stubbornly get to her feet. Remaining silent, the Mother of Demons waited to see what the fiery redhead would do next.

"Are you going to help me or just stand there like the cat who caught the canary?" Zelda spat blood on the floor at Lilith's feet. "I've wasted enough time, Lilith. I don't want to waste any more." With her hands pressed to her wound, slightly bent at the waist, Zelda's emerald gaze implored her Queen to show mercy. "I didn't choose Hell - I chose you." As the words came tumbling out of her, Zelda realized they were the truth.

The last time she'd heard such proclamations, they'd come from a man who believed her to be another woman, but here the most intriguing woman she'd ever met was professing to have chosen her - Lilith. Without so much as a thought, Lilith stepped forward into Zelda's personal space, wrapped her left arm around the witch's waist and pressed her right palm tightly against the wound. Zelda cried out softly, ending in a moan as warmth flooded her body as the strange sensation of her veins, tissue, muscle, bones, and blood fused her back together.