Whispers at Witching Hour

Chapter 58

Musical inspiration: Only Love Can Hurt Like This – Paloma Faith (Off the Cuff)

Zelda was sitting at the large wooden desk in her office as headmistress, elbows on the surface, head buried in her hands. Pure exhaustion and nowhere to go. The pagans had threatened to extinguish them all and they had no resources to fight them whatsoever.

Their only hope was Sabrina now. Sabrina her niece. Sabrina the Queen of Hell. Everything about Sabrina she had had no clue about, but her demoness did. How could Lilith be closer to her own niece than she was? She, who had raised the girl.

A cyclone of black smoke manifested on the other side of the table and Zelda lifted her face, head still resting in her hands. The demoness was holding a bottle of red wine, as promised, cocking her eyebrows at her girlfriend. When the redhead did not engage in her seductive shenanigans, she suspected something was going on.

Lilith circled the desk, followed by Zelda's stern gaze, and came to stand beside her, placing her hands on Zelda's shoulders slowly. The witch looked up to her with an unreadable expression yet indicating a silent threat.

"When exactly did you plan on telling me that my niece is Queen of Hell instead of you?"

"I... um... uh...", Lilith removed her hands from Zelda's shoulder, "Honey, it's-"

"Don't you 'honey' me!" Her eyes flickered angrily.

"Zelda... I wanted to tell you but-"

"But what?"

"If you would let me speak, thank you very much", Lilith snapped and continued, "At the volcano, I just wanted you. Be with you, be close to you. You get that?"

Zelda sighed deeply and got up from her chair, turning to sit on the table, facing Lilith, still annoyed, but too exhausted to fight. "I do", she yielded, "But how come you're so close with Sabrina all of a sudden? She talked about you as if you two were best friends or something. Heaven, she trusts you more than me!"

The ginger witch crossed her arms and Lilith noticed the hurt flashing on Zelda's face. She pushed the chair aside a little and stepped towards Zelda, one of her thighs slipping between Zelda's knees, and rested her hands on the ginger's waist, faces close.

"She trusts you, Zelda. We just happened to have spent some time together while I was teaching her about her new powers and occasionally had a milk shake and a chat afterwards..."

"So, you really are close, huh?", Zelda observed, and Lilith shrugged in response.

"Although I don't like to admit it, I like Sabrina. A rebellious young witch like I was", she could not suppress a grin, "Anyway, if I'm going to become her aunt one day, it won't be such a big deal for the family if we get along well, will it?"

Zelda's features softened and she released her arms from their entanglement to brush her hands over Lilith's upper arms.

"As long as you keep her safe, aunt-to-be" Zelda blinked at her with the corners of her mouth quirking up.

"I will. Now, shall we open the wine? Trust me, you'll need it for what's to come", Lilith warned but quickly added, "The prophecy, I mean. But I'm open for everything afterwards", she said biting her lip, but Zelda captured it soon with her mouth, sliding over it with her tongue.

While Lilith was pouring them two glasses of wine, sitting on the table as well, next to Zelda, the latter took the opportunity to ask her demoness something she had been curious about all day.