Devil's Spawn

Third Trimester

Chain smoking, Zelda paced outside of Lilith's room where the witch had been in a coma for almost three weeks. Hooked up to an IV dripping saline and pain medication into her veins, a feeding tube down her throat kept her and the Devil's spawn satiated with liquified human flesh and blood, and a catheter ensured all of her bodily functions were being attended to. After her collapse in the kitchen, Lilith was unresponsive and the Spellman's decided to set her room up as if it were a hospital; in the time she'd been comatose, her belly continued to grow exponentially and she looked like she was almost to term. It tortured Zelda to see her lover like that, a live incubator for Lucifer's murderous child - she felt nothing but rage towards the innocent demon child for putting Lilith in this position.

Her anxiety over whether Lilith would survive this pregnancy was making her impossible to be around; she'd given her Directrix duties to Ambrose for the time being, and Hilda was taking care of anything else the students at the Academy may need. Zelda had set up a cot in Lilith's room and was alternating between pacing the hallway and sitting at her bedside monitoring her. Every morning the Spellmans came together to place their hands on the Queen of Hell's belly and sing the demon back to sleep - they learned quickly that they needed to keep her asleep or Lilith suffered. A table and chair had been set up outside of Lilith's door for when Zelda needed a cigarette so she didn't aggravate the demon spawn with the smoke and awaken her; snuffing out her cigarette, Zelda breezed back into the room.

As it did every time she saw Lilith, her heart clenched and she felt a flop in her belly. The Mother of Demons was a pallid grey colour, tubes rudely marring her beauty. Zelda's worried gaze took in the empty saline pouch and she moved to the desk that had been set up with medical supplies. Hanging a new saline pouch to keep the demoness hydrated, Zelda brushed the hair from her face, searching for signs of life but Lilith's expression remained neutral. She replaced the drainage bag attached to Lilith's catheter, the clear urine telling her the witch was getting enough saline. Then she prepared a sponge bath.

Tenderly, the eldest living Spellman took the Queen of Hell's limbs in her hands and rubbed them with a soft sponge and warm water. When she got to Lilith's face, Zelda paused, wringing out the cloth and slowly dragging it along the sharp lines of the witch's face. Her mind wandered to how she could have possibly allowed herself to love the ultimate wild card, the Mother of Demons, the First Woman, a demoness who didn't recognize or accept love when it was right in front of her.

"When it's changing her damned drainage bag." Zelda muttered to herself with a snort, shaking her head at herself.

With a snap of her fingers, the sponge bath tools vanished and she moved herself to sit at the head of the bed. Gently lifting Lilith's head, she gathered her dark tresses and ran a comb through them, brushing until they shone, before laying them around Lilith's face. Stroking her lover's cheek, Zelda leaned down and kissed her firmly; "Come back to me Lily...." The Queen of Hell made no response.

Sighing, Zelda rose and walked to the balcony, shutting the doors behind her and lighting another cigarette. Resting her right elbow on her left hand, her arm crossing her torso, she leaned against the doors and smoked pensively. Her thoughts ran rampant, going through the plan the Spellmans had decided on; according to the revealing spell, St. Peter's Basilica appeared to be the most likely location for the Spear of Longinus. When they had come together with maps of Italy, Austria, and Armenia the glass jar acting like a planchette had moved to cover Rome as the location of the spear. Ambrose, ever the realist, reminded Zelda that it was a good first step but that it was possible that the spell revealed Rome as the most likely place out of the three they offered, which meant it was possible it could still be anywhere else. The trouble with magic is that if the spear had ever been at St. Peter's Basilica, the spell would indicate that even if it wasn't still there.

"But it's a start..." The High Priestess muttered to herself, taking a long drag from her cigarette, Zelda's eyes fell on the two graves in the cemetery where Lucifer and Blackwood were buried. Her eyes flashed emerald green and she snapped her finger, instantly transporting herself onto Lucifer's grave.