Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 16

Musical inspiration: Money, Power, Glory – Lana Del Rey

"Father Blackwood has proposed."

Hilda could not believe her eyes when Zelda confronted her with the box of turtle dove hearts. Last night her sister had been busy with their niece's teacher and now she was rushing into marriage with Blackwood?

"What?" she squeaked, not sure if to be happy for her sister or worried about her impulsiveness, "What? He did not! He did not!"

Quickly, she got carried away by her euphoria at a Black Wedding. She absolutely loved them – all the baking and cheesiness and festivities.

"Are you ecstatic?"

Zelda calmly looked up from pouring them a drink. "Ecstatic?"

The slightly disgusted expression on her elder sister's face brought her back to reality rapidly, back to her concerns.

"You don't seem ecstatic."

"I'm very pleased, yes." She handed her the glass.

"Oh, good. Yeah, I can tell" Hilda's euphoria faded as fast as it had come. "So... do you not love him?"

"No, Hilda. I don't love Faustus." Zelda's intonation implied it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. Hilda had already known the answer to her question but could not make sense of it either way.

Zelda's explanation on the other hand made complete sense in her sister's own mind but saddened the younger Spellman even more. Why did her sister crave recognition so much? How unhappy must she be if she would go to such lengths to get it?

Before Hilda could start inquiring her sister about the matter, Zelda diverted the attention to her. As Dr Cee's revelation had been quite the event for her, she could not stop herself from spilling the tea to her big sister.

"He's an incubus. A sex demon."

"Oh, Hildy."

Hilda's cheeks flushed red, unable to help the little bit of shame she still felt discussing these topics. She tried to distract Zelda from it by telling her all about her research when her sister started throwing all sorts of scarily detailed pieces of advice at her.

"How do you know so much about Damascus steel and chains and incubi?"

Internally, Zelda laughed abundantly at her sister's innocence, but nothing leaked through her perfectly serious façade.

"Oh, sister. As if I haven't tangled with my fair share of sex demons."

Saying it out loud, she remembered some of her encounters, astounded by how much Mary could live up to the amount of pleasure a sex demon could unchain.

"Stop it!" Hilda wanted to sink into the ground, not having had a clue how much saucy information about her sister she did not know and not wanting to find out.

Better to change the subject back to her sister's insane wedding plans. She took a sip from her glass to gather her courage, knowing she would have to walk on eggshells.

"Zelds... Do you really think marrying Faustus is a good idea?"

"Of course, I do. Just think of what we'll have!"

Hilda was not buying it. To her, this plan was doomed from the start. "Not to judge, b-but... You and Mary. Yesterday. Sitting room...?"

"Hilda! I thought we had a silent agreement to never ever mention this... occurrence."