Protector | Ambrose Spellman and Nicholas Scratch [1]

14 | all hail the queen

fourteen
all hail the queen.

IN THE DAYS after, Selene makes a point to avoid Ambrose. She misses him a lot, but she doesn't know what to say to him. He had said all of the things she'd been wanting him to say for so long, but his timing couldn't be any worse. She's actually quite happy with Nicholas, and the more time she spends with him, the happier she gets. But Ambrose is always at the back of her mind.

She had been trying so hard to ignore Ambrose that she wasn't there when Sabrina performed an exorcism on Susie's possessed uncle. She had succeeded in riding him of the demon, but by the time she died, Susie's uncles body was wrecked. The demon had been feeding on him for weeks, and there wasn't much left. So it wasn't a surprise when Susie called saying her uncle had died.

Selene immediately left the Academy of Unseen Arts and went to go see Susie, which is what she's doing now. As soon as she lays eyes on Susie, she wraps her in a tight hug, burying her head in the girl's dark, curly hair. "I heard about your uncle. I'm so sorry, Su."

"My dad and I visited the place where we were gonna send him," Susie admits somberly. "The asylum. Honestly, maybe it's better. He would've rotted in there. At least he's free now."

"You're right. He's at peace now," she then looks down and realizes that her friend is wearing a white and pink floral dress. "I've never seen you in a dress before, Su. You look really pretty."

Susie then pulls away from Selene, breaking eye contact with her. "I'm not an abomination, Selene, and I won't be one."

The amount of self hatred in her voice catches Selene off guard, and she can't help but gape at her friend. "Susie, you're amazing. Wh-why would you ever say that?"

"Forget it," Susie shakes her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Susie-" Selene begins, only for Susie to step back, grabbing ahold of the door knob.

"I need to be alone, so I think you should go," Susie breathes, tears shining in her eyes. Speechless, Selene turns to go, only to stop in her tracks. "I told you to go-"

"I know what you said, but I'm not leaving," Selene replies simply. "You're my best friend, and I love you. So I'm gonna be here for you, even if you don't want me here. So you can shut the door in my face or you can let me in come and try to cheer you up."

Susie stares at Selene, before she opens the door wider, letting her in.
——

The next day, Selene heads to the Church of Night nervously. The entire coven is gathered so a witch can be chosen to be sacrificed for the Feast of Feasts.

The Feast of Feasts is a sacred tradition for witches. It's to honor Freya, a witch who killed herself so that the witches of Greendale wouldn't starve a couple of hundred years ago. Most witches view the Feast of Feasts as an annual devotion to the Dark Lord, because every year, fourteen witches from the coven are chosen to participate in a lottery. The fourteen witches are then put into a drawing to determine who's the queen. The queen gets to live like royalty for twenty-four hours before she is eaten.

Selene finds the feast barbaric since nobody is starving anymore, but most witches think it's an honor to be queen. Selene has never been chosen to participate, and she's never taken part in the feast. However, her father forces her to attend the party every year.

But now, Selene is nervous, because the Spellman's have been chosen to participate. Ambrose can't take place in it since he's a male and cannot leave the Spellman house, and Hilda can't participate since she was recently excommunicated from the church. So that leaves Zelda and Sabrina. Zelda immediately offered herself up, because she would rather die than let anything happen to Sabrina.

Selene sits with Nicholas in the front row of the church, feeling like she's going to throw up. The entire feast disgusts her.

Nick squeezes Selene's knee gently in an attempt to calm her down, but she's still anxious as she watches her father and stepmother make their way to the front of the church. Faustus clears his throat dramatically, gaining the attention of the entire coven. "Tonight we celebrate a time-honored tradition. The Feast of Feasts is a reminder that even the humblest amongst us can be lifted up to sit with the Dark Lord. And that the survival of the coven is greater than the life of any individual witch. Sisters, let the Dark Lord's will be revealed."

Selene begins to feel lightheaded as Lady Blackwood goes through the line of tributes, lighting each tribute's candle. She's almost to Zelda's when Sabrina throws open the doors of the church, making everybody turn to her.

"Stop!" Sabrina yells, prancing in the church with her head high. As soon as she does, Selene's stomach drops and Selene realizes what the Spellman girl is going to do. "I'll draw. I'll draw for the Spellman family."

"Sabrina, what in Satan's name are you doing?" Zelda questions, her eyes widening as the voices in Selene's head return like they always do when they need to warn her about something.

"Sabrina... Sabrina."

"I'm upholding a beloved tradition, Aunt Zelda," Sabrina smirks, trying to get her aunt to admit how stupid this is. "Unless, of course, you want to admit that this whole thing is barbaric, as my father believed!"

The church begins to whisper, because when Sabrina's father was High Priest, he outlawed the Feast of Feasts. However, when Faustus became High Priest, he claimed that the Dark Lord made him have a revelation about the feast. And when he did, Faustus made people celebrate the Feast of Feasts again.

"Sabrina. Sabrina. It's Sabrina."

Selene bites down on her tongue in an attempt to stay quiet, but she feels like she can't sit still. The voices continue to grow louder, and despite how Nick tries to comfort her, he isn't helping very much. Nobody can help her when the hundred of voices in her head need to warn her.

"Sister Zelda, is there a problem?" Faustus raises an eyebrow at Zelda.

"No, Your Excellency," Zelda shakes her head, and after a moment, she takes a seat next to Selene, letting Sabrina take her spot as tribute. "My brave niece would like to represent my family this year. So, Sabrina, by all means, go ahead."

"It's gonna be Sabrina," Selene whispers, dread filling her body as she buries her head in Nick's shoulder.

Sabrina seems scared as she takes her spot next to Prudence, who's also a tribute.

"Burn them," Faustus instructs once every tribute has gotten a piece of paper from Lady Blackwood.

"Please don't be Sabrina," Selene prays silently to the Dark Lord. "Please don't let it be Sabrina."

Everybody watches anxiously as the tribute's burn their papers, and most of the papers simply set on fire. But Sabrina's paper burns red, and Prudence's burns black. So Prudence is queen, and Sabrina is Prudence's handmaiden.

And Prudence seems happy as Faustus walks over to her, raising her hand above the her head. "Prudence is queen! All hail the Queen of the Feast! Kneel before your queen!"

Everybody does so, but Selene can't help but feel that something is off. The voices in her head had repeated Sabrina's name, not Prudence's. And Selene may have taken it the wrong way, but thats never happened before. And because of that, Selene is suspicious about how the tributes were picked.

UNEDITED