Black Magic Women

31

Her eyes opened to blinding lights. Her head was aching and her vision was spinning so she closed them immediately and an agonizing pain shot through her entire body. Lord, what happened? Her head was spinning and even though she had closed her eyes, it didn't stop. Breathing was hard and she felt a weight pressing against her upper body.

She didn't know what was going on. All she knew was that the pain was unbearable. Her entire body hurt and there wasn't a singly muscle that didn't ache. She tried to move but found it too painful so she just rested in the position she had been in for what felt like an eternity.

Mary found herself moaning in pain as it only got worse with every passing second.

Zelda was woken up by a low moan. She rolled around and closed her eyes again. It was too early for Hilda to wake her up. She needed a few more hours of good sleep before she could allow her sister to wake her up and annoy the living hell out of her until they went to bed again.

When the seconds moan echoed through the room, she sighed in annoyance. That woman had a nerve to wake her at such and unholy hour.

"Hilda could you just shut up?!" Zelda mutter grumpily and snuggled into the blanket, trying to fall back to sleep.

Mary recognized the voice right away. It gave her the comfort she needed. If Zelda was near, then everything could be fixed.

"Zelda," she managed to say, although it hurt like hell. Her throat was dry and talking hurt.

Slowly Zelda's sleep clouded mind registered the voice and realization hit her like a brick. Her eyes shot open and she was seated on the bed, Mary's hand in hers, within seconds.

"Mary?" she asked softly and brushed her thumb over her hand.

"Hurts," Mary managed to whisper but kept her eyes closed.

"Wait, I'll get you some pain killers," Zelda said and reached over the brunette to fetch the small bottle from her nightstand. She got one out, even though her hands were shaking. She was just so relieved that Mary had finally woken up. It was a good sign, wasn't it?

Zelda slowly opened Mary's mouth and popped the pill into it.

"Drink," Zelda said and held a glass to Mary's lips, making swallowing the pill easier.

"The pain should be gone in a minute. Hilda spent the entire evening making them," Zelda said and just held onto Mary's hand as if it was a lifeline.

Mary felt the pain fade away and relaxed into the mattress. The throbbing of her head slowly went away and Mary sighed relieved that she could finally breathe again. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, noticing that she had spent the night in Zelda's bedroom.

But what had happened? Mary didn't remember and the glance at her bandaged wrist and Zelda's worried face made her realize it must have been something bad.

"What happened?" Mary asked with a dry throat and shaky voice.

"You don't remember?" Zelda whispered, tears filling her eyes.

"No," Mary said and a cold shiver ran down her spine, making goosebumps appear. She saw the opened window and tried to close it with a movement of her good hand but it didn't budge. She tried it again, but still nothing.

"Why isn't the window closing?" Mary said in a panicked voice and felt Zelda's hands take her face and she was forced to look at the ginger.

"You really don't remember what happened, do you?" Zelda asked and a tear rolled down her face. It broke her heart to break the news to Mary. She could only imagine how it must feel to wake up without the powers you have spent a lifetime with.

"What happened? You're scaring me," Mary said and tried to move other objects. She went for the clock on the desk, but nothing. The chair in the corner of the room? Nothing. The pen on her nightstand? Nothing...

Her movements became more panicked and her face portrayed pure fear. Zelda could only watch her hasty hand flips and didn't have the strength to stop her.

"What did you do to me?" Mary asked, breathing hard and fast. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she didn't know what to do. She felt powerless... She didn't feel the usual comforting hum of power flowing through her veins and when she tried to reach out to read Zelda's or anybody's mind for that matter, she was confined to her own.

"What did you do to me?" Mary screamed and yanked her hand away from Zelda. She tried to move off the bed but her body was still aching and so she just pulled her knees up to her chest, wincing.

"I didn't do anything," Zelda said and reached out to touch Mary's cheek but she backed away, making Zelda retreat her hand.

"We... we were held captive by the Dark Lord. Do you remember that?" Zelda asked, trying to not overwhelm Mary with the worst thing right away.

"No... yeah," Mary said as the memory came flooding back into her mind.

"And he threatened us..." Zelda continued and saw Mary slowly realize what had happened.

The mention of the encounter had brought a stone to roll in Mary's mind and the dots slowly connected into one big, ugly picture.

"No," Mary whispered as she finally understood what she had given up.

"No!" She screamed and threw the nightstand lamp across the room, not with her lost powers but with her bare hands.

Sobs erupted through her body and Zelda just pulled her close, wanting to comfort her. She didn't know what to do or how to react. She had never been in a situation like this before and she certainly wasn't good at it.

She just brushed her hands through the dark curls of the woman weeping in her arms and hoped the future would be brighter than the present. She didn't understand Mary's reaction. Of course, it was shocking, but did she regret it? Did she regret saving Zelda's family?

"Do you regret it?" Zelda asked, not being able to hold the question in any longer. Mary's reaction made Zelda fear that she had regretted saving her and her family and it would crush Zelda if it was true.

"No," Mary said and was suddenly surprisingly calm.

Mary hadn't realized the impact of her words. Of course, she didn't regret it. How could she, when all she wanted was to keep Zelda safe? But the sacrifice she had made still hurt and she didn't know how she was supposed to manage a life without her powers.

They had always been what gave her security. They had always been what gave her a purpose. She had relied on her powers so much that she feared the life without them.

"Don't you even think about that. I would save you no matter what it would cost me," Mary said and Zelda found pure love and devotion in her eyes. She couldn't help herself. She brushed her lips against Mary's and buried her hand in her thick mess of hair.

Mary responded eagerly and there was this strong connection pulling them together, no matter how hard they tried to stay away from each other.

Mary licked over Zelda's lips, begging for entrance when she made a stupid move and broke the kiss, hissing in pain.

"What?" Zelda asked, cautious and afraid she had hurt Mary.

"Nothing, it just hurts," she said and laid back down, feeling the need to stretch out.

"No wonder, you have a few broken ribs. One was so bad that Hilda wanted to bring you to a hospital," Zelda said and rolled her eyes.

"She should have tried...wouldn't have went well for her or the doctors," Mary said and both of them laughed softly.

"Zelda?"

"What?"

"I'm afraid."

"Me too, Mary."

--

Happy New Year!! Well it's still eleven hours to go for me, but I probably won't manage to update before that! This year, especially the past one and a half month writing this story, has been an incredible journey for me. It had its ups an downs but I'm so grateful for starting this story! Thank you for the kind and generous feedback! I appreciate all the comments and I hope you have an amazing start into 2019!