The Seed || A Madam Spellman Story

Hellfire

"Of the angels, he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire."

Hebrew 1:7 

__________

Zelda had been confident up until this point, hiding behind a rock with Constance and Avnas looking at the daunting building in front of her. She tied her hair in a knot and tried to figure out a plan of action they could go about without too much trouble. But her mind felt blank. 

"Are you ready to call it quits, witch?"

"I'm thinking we should call reinforcements." 

"No," Zelda responded. "We can't make ourselves obvious. We get in, we get the Athame, we leave." 

"And how do you suppose we do that, Spellman?" Avnas asked, her eyes rolling as they had done a hundred times thus far. "Let's waltz in there as if we belong, maybe create a distraction! Yes, that won't be obvious at all." Constance raised an eyebrow at the demoness' outburst. 

"Well, could you create a distraction?" Avnas closed her eyes tightly, probably questioning her decision to help. 

"Alright, I suppose I can. But you have to be quick, else we'll get caught and our heads will be the property of Caliban."

"Who is Caliban?" 

"A prince of Hell," Constance answered. 

"A cute one at that," 

"Avnas." The demoness rolled her eyes. 

"I can be pretty distracting. And he's such a flirt I'm sure his guard will be down if I give him a reason to. Then the two of you can try and sneak through the back, past the guards. If you manage to actually call the Athame to you Spellman, in which I'd be very impressed, then you sneak back out." 

"And we say the incantation that summons you so you know when we are far enough away from Caliban's castle," Zelda reminded. 

"Exactly. I'll meet up with you and hopefully, we get the damn thing to my mother so we can stop worrying about it." They summarized their plan in so many words, and Zelda was anxious to begin. 

"Well," Avnas started, "Now's a better time than never." With a grace, only the demoness possessed at this moment, she walked freely towards the doors of the palace; thankfully and warmly greeted by one of the demon guards out front. Avnas described how many demons had taken no side in this war so, despite her connections to Lilith (which were unknown to many in Hell- including the Prince), Caliban wouldn't think anything of her sojourn to this part of Hell. 

At least not until after Avnas aided them in retrieving the Athame, inconveniently buried under the hellstone that made up the floorboards. 

Constance and Zelda walked the perimeter until they found the back doors, a singular guard looking very bored hanging out by the entrance.

"When she said he keeps his guard down..."

"Fast worker." Zelda winked. "How are we going to get him away from the door? I can't do much, my magic is down and I need to save it for the spell..." 

"We don't need magic. Watch." Constance picked up a stone next to her foot and tossed it hard in the opposite direction. She looked quite proud of herself when the guard sprung up and ran towards the imaginary threat. "Simple guard, simple solution." 

"I'll try and remember that." 

They ran into no trouble since entering the building, bright blue and gold stucco greeting them, paintings of tortured souls adorned the walls. It was a bright aesthetic for Hell, but every demon had their own taste. They walked for some time feeling out the place, but Zelda knew that wandering around aimlessly for much longer trying to look for the nexus point in Hell would start to give them the attention they did not want. From what she could gather, they were on one of the higher floors of the castle, floor two or three. But the Athame was deeper than Hell itself, they would have to go to the lowest point.