Strange Magic

Chapter 10

Zelda closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to Lilith before she entered into the chamber that held Faustus, the man she wish she could forget. Soon enough she'd be through with him forever, never having to lay eyes on his sorry form again. Dressed in a pair of black slacks and tight black turtleneck, her hair billowing over her shoulders, she took the enchantment off the door and entered the dark lair where he was chained.

"Zelda," Faustus murmured, almost too weak to lift his head. She'd be lying if she said the sight didn't give her a sick sense of satisfaction.

"Faustus," she countered, smirking as she felt the dagger cold against her back. She moved nearer to him, feeling like a little game before she killed him. "And how is my darling husband, our fallen high priest?"

"Well," he managed to smirk, "and how is the bastard high priestess?"

Zelda narrowed her eyes, ready to slit his throat then and there, but she wanted him to know how wrong he was before he died. "Remarkably well, your dishonor," she murmured in his ear as she straddled his legs, nearly sitting on his lap. "Better than you, I imagine."

Faustus licked his bottom lip and eyed his wife as she perched on top of him, the scent of her perfume still intoxicating to his senses. "I'm much better now," he smiled as he leaned his head back to meet her stone cold gaze. "Come to play, darling? Have you decided you can't live without your husband?"

"Not hardly," Zelda smiled as she sat fully on his lap, her chest nearly pressed into his, "but I did come to revel in the fact that I'm going to kill you, Faustus, and I'm going to enjoy doing it."

Faustus tensed visibly at the statement. Zelda didn't have it in her, but she had grown... darker. Somehow more powerful. That's what happened when a woman went unchecked; she couldn't control herself. "You couldn't. You've never had the guts, Zelda. You'll never do it, and you'll never rule this coven because Lilith will see you for what you are. A cheap, pathetic pet, and nothing more."

Zelda didn't flinch as he insulted her. She expected that to happen. "You wish," she smirked as she shoved the rotting hoof of their dark lord into his mouth to shut him up. "Faustus, taste your defeat. You've lost, and now, my dearly beloved, I am here to end you once and for all." Zelda pulled the dagger from the back of her pants and pressed it to his neck as she grabbed him by the hair, slicing slowly, enjoying every moment, taking her sweet time. Faustus had tried to send her family into ruin; he had abused and controlled her for his own purposes, and he had nearly succeeded in taking her Mary away. Perhaps it wasn't right to think of Mary as hers, but she did. She always would. Now, she would take him to save her.

It was over as soon as it had begun. Faustus slumped forward in the chair as he bled out, his head slack against his neck as the warm metallic liquid pooled in her lap. Her hands were covered in blood; surely so was her face. She'd have to clean herself up before she returned to Mary's house. "Goodnight, sweet prince," Zelda muttered as she stood, a sense of satisfaction and power taking root deep in her core.

Before she left the chamber she took one last look back at her husband, lifeless and still in the chair, and praised Lilith.