לִילִית: Lilith's Story

Chapter Eight

Having landed among her children in the Eighth Circle of Hell, Lilith still needed to pass through the final circle in order to survive all nine circles of Hell and return to Lucifer - which is what he expected from her. Her demons had nursed her back to health, having fed her and tended to her wounds; the Mother of Demons kissed her children and thanked them, allowing them to return to their duties in the trenches as she, stronger now, volunteered to move onto the final circle.

Standing tall and as regal as a Queen, Lilith snapped her fingers and sent herself to the Ninth Circle. Landing gracefully on the lake of ice, Lilith winced as the frigid wind whipped through her hair. Her demons had ensured that she would not die within this circle but she was still wounded, her shoulder blades still broken, her cuts and bruises still fresh, but the ice was a welcome reprieve from the relentless heat.

The minion, her executioner, scurried quickly over to her in an attempt to trap her. With a snarl, she put up a hand; "I will do it myself, creature. Leave me be."

With purpose, the Dawn of Doom moved towards the hole in the center of the lake, and lowered herself into it. While it appeared that she was alone, when the lake shifted to swallow her, she felt something other than cold ice pressing against her. Grimacing, she wondered if there was another soul trapped alongside her, the idea of her body pressing against a corpse repulsed her. The silence that followed confirmed that whoever or whatever she was trapped against was not conscious or even alive - she decided to ignore what she couldn't see and closed her eyes instead.

Much like the first circle, Lilith had no idea how long she would be expected to wait here. Her heart rate lowered and she slowed her breathing, moving into a meditative hibernation that would allow her to be encased in ice for a longer period of time before it killed her. She also knew that she was invaluable to the Dark Lord - he may be willing to nearly kill her, but he would not allow her to perish entirely. He was too lazy and she was too useful. Her mind wandered to the voice she'd heard on the sands and the hand that had held her own. She couldn't make out who or what that was or even why it happened but she was eternally grateful as it had encouraged her to hang on in a moment when she was not sure she could. And now, in the Ninth and final Circle of Hell, the First Woman waited for Lucifer to grant her forgiveness so she could return to where she belonged.

The sound of metal sinking into Earth reverberated within the wooden coffin holding Lilith's mortal corpse. The digging was near frantic and after a few shovels, it would stop for a few moments, and then begin again. Hilda Spellman was out of shape but desperate to uncover her sister in the Cain pit. She had fallen to the ground when her sister had died, feeling the loss of the High Priestess' spirit keenly. Confused and disoriented, the blonde witch had run out of the Mortuary to look for Sabrina, wanting to find out what her niece knew about Zelda's whereabouts. The moment she stepped onto the porch she stopped in her tracks, a large mound of fresh dirt was covering the Cain pit and she felt hope return to her - maybe her sister was in the pit...

Made out of soil from Cain's garden, soaked in Abel's blood, the Cain pit was typically used to bring witches back from the dead. Normally, witches would crawl out of the Cain pit on their own but Hilda couldn't wait to see if her older sister was in the pit - she needed to know now. Grabbing Zelda's favourite shovel, Hilda ran to the pit and started excavating. A couple of hours later, sweat and dirt covering her face, Hilda hit the wooden exterior of Lilith's coffin. Frowning, Hilda stared at it; witches were thrown into the Cain pit without a coffin so that they could dig their way out. Whoever was in this coffin wasn't meant to find their way out of the Cain pit - Hilda's mind began to whirl as she thought of any enemies Zelda might have who could have placed her in the coffin.

Crawling around on her hands and knees, Hilda grunted as she tried to find the seam that would release the top of the coffin and allow her to open it. Cursing at herself, she realized she wouldn't be able to open the coffin if she was standing on it! Muttering about her own stupidity, she began to dig just to the right of the coffin, intending to make a ledge that she could stand on in order to open the lid. Finally, after even more time had passed, she was able to move aside and find the seam in the lid. Using the shovel's sharp metal edge, she pried the coffin lid open.

"SATAN IN HELL!" Mimicking her sister's favourite swear, Hilda looked down into the coffin, her hand flying to her mouth to see the Queen of Hell's grey corpse cozied up to her beloved sister.

"ZELDS!" Hilda knelt down and reached across to grab her sister's wrist, feeling for a pulse. Her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to work out how both witches came to be in a coffin together six feet into the Cain pit with no way out. Her gaze took in the horror of her sister's condition, full of deep purple bruises and random scratches, Zelda had very clearly been through...Hell. The British batwit, as Zelda so fondly referred to her as, felt overwhelmed with sadness as she failed to locate a pulse in her sister's wrist. She knelt over the coffin, sobbing, her tears staining the abused and broken bodies beneath her.

"I do not accept this." Hilda Spellman muttered, standing up and wiping angrily at her tear-stained cheeks.

Groaning and grunting, she hoisted the lid of the coffin up and out of the hole she'd dug with the help of some magic then she crawled out of the Cain pit and looked down at the witches below. She would bury them again, this time without a lid, and wait for the Cain pit to work its magic and bring the Queen of Hell and High Priestess of the Church of Lilith back to life. Satisfied with her plan, having no other way of bringing them back other than necromancy (which was a poor choice, as Sabrina found out), she took a deep breath and began to scoop dirt back on top of the grave. Fighting exhaustion, the witch worked hard into the night and when she was finished, she sat down next to the mound of dirt to wait.