Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 7

Musical inspiration: Blood In The Cut – K.Flay

The past few days, Zelda had spent her days sitting by Sabrina's side, trying to fix what had been broken. Sometimes it seemed impossible, and she felt helpless, which brought back the guilt of having failed so miserably in raising and guiding Sabrina. She hated herself for the pain Sabrina had to go through because she could not say no to her, or at least not clear enough. Setting boundaries. But the girl had had her twisted around her little finger ever since she was a toddler.

Almost every night, she fled to Mary. To take her mind off things, to have someone care about her for once, even though she would never admit or let it show. She did not need to talk about the things on her mind with the brunette or about how she felt, she could just melt into her touch and let go for a moment.

Every so often, she even wished she could just fall asleep in her arms and never return to her life in the state it was right now. No more sneaking in and out at night, no more excuses for Hilda and the rest of the family when she had raised suspicion, no more hiding. But that could never happen, Mary was Sabrina's teacher, her favourite even.

However, when Sabrina would be up on her feet again, she would continue lulling Faustus in to drain his power and transfer it to herself slowly but steadily. It was what she wanted. Power. Being seen, being feared, being respected. All her life she had been waiting for that; now she finally had a chance to achieve it, she would not let it go by because of a meaningless fling. Yes. That was what she wanted. Nothing more.

She stood at the window, smoking, gazing into the cloudy night, only wrapped in a white satin dressing gown. They had had a wild night of intense love making that made her shiver only thinking about. Mary had dozed off at some point and had not noticed her getting up. Zelda turned around to look at her sleeping peacefully, so soft, so innocent, so... adorable. She smiled to herself when she imagined what the dark-haired witch would do to her if she ever said that out loud. She was a proud woman, just like herself.

Her insides twisted at the thought of hurting her, but she had to tell her about her objectives with Faustus. Family came first and being involved with him would restore their honour. She sighed – A little too loud as it had woken the brunette up, now blinking to get into a more awake state of mind.

Zelda unconsciously licked her lips at the sight of the dark beauty, covered by nothing but messy cream-coloured bedsheets across her middle, still sleepy, mascara smeared. For a moment, Zelda wondered about the sheets; they did not suit the person she had gotten to know as Mary Wardwell at all. In the air lay the scent of their love making mixed with cigarette smoke. It had become her favourite smell.

"Why're you up? Is it time already?" Mary greeted her drowsily.

"Kind of," she sat down on the bed, her back facing Mary as she could not bear looking at her now, "As much as I enjoy our secret meetings... I won't stop seeing Faustus. Thought you should know that..."

Mary's face fell, not understanding a single word Zelda had said.

"What? But why would you do that?" She blinked away some tears. "I thought I had proven you otherwise..."

"For my family. It'll open some doors." Zelda pulled on her cigarette, feeling ashamed, but only showing resolution.

"Zelda- How? I thought- I thought you... had feelings for me." She bit her lip, rubbing her face as if this was all a bad dream.

The ginger was glad she could not see any of what was going on, instead she started dressing herself to leave. When she only had her heels left to put on, she faced Mary at last.