Black Magic Women

3

Ms. Wardwell entered her bedroom and looked at the bloody mess in front of her. She had sensed Zelda's arrival at the last moment and removed the dead body from her living room, moving it into her bedroom through telekinesis.

She hadn't expected any company for the rest of the day and so she had ordered pizza to well... feast on the delivery guy. She hadn't finished her meal, when she was suddenly disrupted by a powerful mind heading her way.

Surprised and kind of overwhelmed by the situation she just tried to do what caused the least damage. The events of the past few days, or rather weeks, had drained her energy like it was nothing. She was hungry and in need of a break to regain her powers. She had put all of her energy into keeping Sabrina out of trouble and bringing her closer to the point of signing the Book of the Beast.

So when she had been disturbed, her already weak form turned her into an even weaker, fragile and tired one. She looked at the dead body in front of her, hearing her stomach growl in protest. She tried to use telekinesis to move the body again but the body didn't even budge, her mind and powers not strong enough to perform it.

"Damn it," she said and tried to push the body under the bed, in case Zelda smelled the dead and went in search for any sign of something abnormal.

Meanwhile Zelda had tried to calm down a bit and her nervousness turned into concern when she heard the shuffling noises emerge from the bedroom, shortly followed by a row of cursing.

"Everything okay in there?" she knocked softly and put her ear to the door, listening for any kind of sign that something was wrong.

"I'll be right out," Ms. Wardwell replied and sounded a bit out of breath, making Zelda a bit suspicious. In spite of her concerns, Zelda didn't want to ruin her good intentions by invading the poor woman's privacy. She had already done enough by making her feel uncomfortable.

Zelda made her way back into the living room and sat down on the couch, crossing her legs and waiting for Ms. Wardwell to come back.

Ms. Wardwell, stressed by the importance of the situation and her dependency to act her part, finished rolling the dead body under her bed and wiped the blood off her hands, brushed her messy curls back into place and left the bedroom to greet her guest properly.

"I thought you planned on changing?" Zelda asked at the sight of a same looking Ms. Wardwell and as Ms. Wardwell followed Zelda's eyes down her body, she realized that she missed the most important part of why she had went into her bedroom and anger took over her exhausted state of mind.

"Um, clumsy me tripped and fell. Silly stuff like that happens all the time. Well, I didn't want to let you wait any longer than necessary so I decided to just leave my clothes as they are," she said and hoped that Zelda would buy the lie. And much to her surprise, Zelda did.

But it was no wonder that she was able to fool Zelda. The mother of demons had perfected her ability to fool anyone over the centuries.

She sat down next to Zelda and tried to hide her discomfort and embarrassment by simply smiling, trying to manipulate Zelda although it took the last of her strength.

"I came here to apologize. My choice of words... weren't the nicest. I should have been more mature about the situation since you were only trying to help," Zelda said and almost forgot why she held a grudge against the woman next to her.

"Apology accepted. I have to apologize, too. It was impolite of me. All I wanted is what's best for Sabrina."

Zelda felt as if she had just snapped out from under a spell that had been cast on her, the autopilot of her protective nature kicking in. "But, I want you to stop getting involved with our family's business as it doesn't concern you," Zelda said sternly.

"Of course, I'm sorry for causing you trouble," Ms. Wardwell said, even though she had certainly zero intention of following Zelda's demand.

Zelda was surprised and found it almost too easy to convince her. The fight Ms. Wardwell had put up just a few days earlier was like a completely different dimension from this, so she decided to cast an observation spell on the brunette just to make sure.

An uncomfortable silence settled in and Ms. Wardwell knew she had to get on Zelda's good side in order to fulfill her plan so she spoke softly, "I shouldn't have said anything about the father. I'm in no place to judge."

"How did you know?" That was one question that had been bugging Zelda since the comment had left Ms. Wardwell's mouth.

"I've known the father for quite some time now and the last time I read his mind... well I read some things I wasn't supposed to read," she said, hoping it would shut Zelda up. It was a long day and the headache forming in her head was almost too much to bear.

The weakness of her powers made her all too human and she hated it. It made her vulnerable and the different feelings Zelda evoked inside of her confused her enough already.

"But you're from a different coven. How do you know him? And he thinks about me?" Zelda asked and Ms. Wardwell couldn't keep herself from feeling anger rise inside of her at the sight of Zelda's hopeful smile. But what was it really?

She didn't know and certainly didn't want to waste any more time with keeping this conversation going.

"It's a long story. Maybe next time. I'm quite tired and I have to be at work early to teach your niece, so I should probably get some sleep," she said, making point clear.

Zelda knew there was more behind her sudden tiredness but didn't say anything, not wanting to destroy the seed they had just planted. Maybe she could bring herself to like the woman, who was currently leading her to the door.

"Good night," Ms. Wardwell offered before she closed the door.

Zelda smiled to herself, satisfied with the way she handled the situation. She left, but not before she had cast the observation spell that went unnoticed by a very exhausted Ms. Wardwell.