Strange Magic

Chapter 17

Zelda followed silently behind Mary, their hands clasped together, as the older woman led her up the walk to her house. Zelda had let Sabrina drive her car home in a rare moment of generosity and eagerness to get home with Mary. Now that she was with her, officially her girlfriend, Zelda felt uncharacteristically shy. She stood by quietly as Mary struggled with her keys in the darkness, remembering in her head how she had struggled with the very same door not so long who when Mary was ill. She suppressed a smile at the memory; not that Mary had been ill, but at how much she had loved the woman even then.

Zelda's life had been nothing short of a roller coaster for the last year. First, she thought she had fallen in love with a mortal; not short of an unforgivable sin in her book. She hadn't meant to care for Mary Wardwell at all when the woman started coming around last year. In fact, Zelda had been pretty dead set on both disliking and distrusting the woman. Slowly but surely Lilith, under the guise of Mary's body, had worked her way not only in to Zelda's affections but into her bed. They had lived that way quite blissfully for nearly five and a half months before Zelda found out the truth and Mary Wardwell was ripped from her arms. Loving Lilith was a whole new game. Sure it was still Mary's body, but Zelda felt differently. She had fallen for Lilith, too, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was a lot of her beloved Mary in those few few months together with Lilith. Perhaps it was denial; maybe Mary really had been dead and gone those months and she was simply missing who she thought she was.... the whole thing confused her. She had never truly been with Mary. It had always been Lilith, and yet she knew Mary- this Mary- with all her quirks and peculiarities so well.

Mary looked back at Zelda and smiled as the door finally swung open. The paused for a moment on her front porch, suspended in time. This would be the last moment before the rest of their lives together. Sure it wasn't a marriage, but it felt like one in Zelda's heart. Mary was finally freely hers and tonight they would be together; no tragedies or deaths or odd circumstances. Just love.

"Are you alright, Zelda?" Mary asked quietly as she led her girlfriend into the living room and discarded her keys on the table by the door, closing it behind them.

"Perfectly so," Zelda smiled back demurely, looking around the dimly lit room. She already knew the space like the back of her hand but tonight it felt different... better. Kinder. "And you?"

Mary's answer came in the form of her hands in Zelda's hair, pulling it roughly out of the coiffed updo, pins hitting the hardwood floor as they escaped the red curls. Her lips were on Zelda's, rough and wet and hot, like she needed the woman with everything in her right then and there. Zelda smirked against her lips, the heat between her thighs returning as she felt the woman press her body into her. "Perfectly fine," Mary grumbled between kisses as she reached her hands behind Zelda's back to search for the zipper on her gown, tugging at it to get it undone as quickly as she could once she found it.

Zelda humored Mary for a moment and allowed her to practically rip the zipper down her back and tug the dress down her arms, but then she stopped the woman, stepped slowly away from her as the gown pooled at her feet. "Darling, what has gotten in to you?" She questioned, a mockingly sweet tone in her voice as she bent down carefully, still balancing in her tall, black stilettos, to pick the dress up off the floor. When she stood again Mary nearly lost her breath at the sight in front of her; Zelda was clad in a pair of black thigh high stockings held up by a matching lace garter belt and high waisted shorts. Her bra, of course, coordinated perfectly, the deep color of the garments a stunning contrast to her pale skin. "If you don't slow down you miss the details, my dear," Zelda smirked as she tossed the dress on the back of Mary's favorite chair and sauntered further away from her lover to help herself to a finger of whiskey.

Zelda couldn't help but think to herself that Mary had denied her earlier; that she had introduced her as a friend- and now the woman couldn't keep her hands off of her. Part of it still stung a little, and perhaps teasing her was childish, but Zelda had always had a taste for a little playful revenge. She quirked an eyebrow as she kicked out of her shoes and poured Mary a drink in her own home, then breezed past the woman and kissed her on the cheek as she handed her the drink and made her way to the couch to sit, one long leg elegantly crossed over the other. "You look crestfallen my dear, close your mouth and come join me for a conversation," she smiled as she brought the crystal rocks glass to her lips and threw one arm over the back of the couch.