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There was something… off, about the mortuary.
She didn't know what it was. But there was definitely something.
Zelda sat in the kitchen, cigarette in hand. Sunlight was streaming through the window, illuminating the newspaper Zelda was struggling to read. It was as if Zelda’s brain couldn’t quite read the words. She placed it down, gazing around the kitchen. Everything seemed to be in it’s proper place. So why did-
“Zelda.”
“Edward?” Zelda asked, a bit breathless. She turned her head to see her brother entering the kitchen.
“You seem surprised to see me,” Edward chuckled. He was wearing that ridiculous hat of his, his dark eyes filled with mischief as always. “Drink too much last night?”
Zelda scoffed at that, returning to her newspaper. “Still obnoxious as ever.”
“Just a reminder that Diana and I are planning to head out to the conference soon.”
Zelda just took another puff off her cigarette. “And Sabrina?”
“Somewhere around here,” Edward said. “Make sure you have your lesson plans done by this weekend, yes?”
“Of course,” Zelda said.
“Perfect,” Edward kissed her forehead before turning to go. “I’ll see you in a few days”
“Edward.”
He turned to face her. Zelda couldn’t explain it, but she felt a lump in her throat. Part of her wanted to tell him not to go. “Stay safe.”
He frowned for a moment before smiling. “Don’t I always?”
Zelda returned to her newspaper as she heard her brother make his way through the living room. She heard the sound of the front door opening.
“Hello,” Edward said.
A very familiar voice filled the lounge. “I was hoping you would’ve already been gone.”
“Without seeing my favorite sister-in-law?”
“I’m not deeming that with a response. Diana is waiting for you outside in the car.”
“Alright, alright. Zelda! Your girlfriend is here!”
Zelda frowned. Girlfriend?
She exited the kitchen, entering the living room to see a head of brown hair and the smirk of one of the most insufferable people Zelda had ever known.
“Lilith?” Zelda gasped.
The woman smiled “Hello love.”
“You’re here?”
“I thought I’d surprise you,” Lilith said, nearing her and putting her hands on Zelda’s waist. “Some things fell off my plate.”
“Fell? Or did you scrape them off?” Zelda teased. She had forgotten just how intoxicating Lilith could be.
“Perhaps some demons were warned that if they didn’t solve their issues they would find they had no issues to worry about,” Lilith said. “You have me all to yourself this evening.”
“Aren’t I lucky?” Zelena said dryly.
Lilith chuckled at that. “You are.”
“Insufferable,” Zelda grumbled.
“And yet you continue to suffer my presence.”
Presence… presence… right, wasn’t it odd Lilith was here?
Shouldn’t she be in hell after… Zelda lost her train of thought again.
What was it?
“Zelda? Are you alright?”
“Why are you here?” Her voice came out much colder then it should’ve been.
“Perhaps I just wished to visit. Forgive me for being concerned over my high priestess.”
That wasn’t it. Zelda knew something wasn’t right. Maybe Lilith could put her finger on it. “There’s something we need to discuss.”
“Yes?” Lilith asked, firmly in Zelda’s personal space now. “What is it?”
Zelda blinked. There was something, wasn’t there? “I seem to have forgotten it.”
“I’m sure it’ll come back to you,” Lilith said, tracing the edge of Zelda’s collarbone with the tip of her finger.
Not like this it won’t .
“Auntie!” Sabrina called, causing Zelda to jump back. Lilith just gave her an amused grin as her niece entered the room.
“Nick wants to go to the movies tonight, is that alright?”
“Perfectly fine, just be back by eleven.”
Sabrina rolled her eyes.
“No attitude,” Zelda scolded. “Your father’s only been gone a couple of minutes, but I can just as easily make him turn back around.”
“Alright, alright,” Sabrina sighed.
“Thank you,” Zelda said, nearing her niece. “I’m glad to see you so happy Sabrina.”
Sabrina gave her an odd look. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Why wouldn’t she indeed? There was something there. At the edge of Zelda’s consciousness. Something about Nicholas Scratch…
“Bye Lilith,” Sabrina said cheerfully, walking past Lilith.
“Sabrina,” The Queen nodded. “Zelda are you sure you’re alright?”
That tone of concern… “No, I’m not there seems to be-”
“Z!”
Zelda turned around in shock to a little girl sprinting up from her. She had darker skin and curly hair, but Zelda would know her anywhere. She scooped the girl up.
“Leticia,” Zelda breathed out as she clutched the girl to her chest. She felt the overwhelming urge to sob. Judas toddled after her and tugged on Zelda’s shirt.
“Up Z! Up!” He begged.
Lilith, thankfully, scooped the boy up instead.
“Thanks Lily,” he said.
“Of course my little nightmare.”
He giggled at that, playing with a strand of her curled hair.
“Ahh! There you two are.”
Zelda and Lilith turned to see Hilda approaching them.
“Sorry Zelds, they got away from me,” Hilda said, apologetic.
“It’s quite alright,” Zelda said.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll be heading to Dr Cee’s, yeah? Prudence’ll be picking up the twins later.”
“Of course,” Zelda said. “I will see you tomorrow?”
Hilda nodded and smiled. “Lovely to see you as always Lilith.”
Lilith smiled back. “And you as well Hilda.”
“Bye Auntie!” Both twins called.
“Lily will you play a game with us?” Leticia asked in a shy voice.
“Of course,” Lilith said, placing Judas down. “What shall we play?”
This caused the twins to burst into rapid fire discussion over what the best game would be to play as Zelda set Leticia down.
Lilith linked their hands together, squeezing Zelda’s once. Zelda squeezed it back.
She couldn’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon then this
Lilith couldn’t think of a worse way to spend an afternoon then this listening to demons whining.
She knew that was part of the deal of course. Ruling over demons was never supposed to be easy. Still, after awhile it grew tedious. Her hand carded through the fur of one of her hellhounds that sat at her feet. She was half tempted to feed the low-class demon in front of her to the canine as a treat.
“-fourth circle. I am meant to be at a lower level.”
“With how you’re sniveling, you should be happy I am not placing you at a higher one,” Lilith said. “Perhaps the first circle is more your speed? I hear Virgil is looking for fresh ears for his poetry-”
“Please no, anything but that,” The demon begged.
“Then in the fourth circle you shall remain,” Lilith motioned dismissively with her hand. “That’s all.”
The demon walked out dejectedly.
Lilith’s ears picked up on familiar voices praying to her. She frowned, her hand pausing its movements.
Now why was-
“Minon.”
The bellhop glanced up at her.
“I will be back momentarily. If I find a single demon in this throneroom upon my return, I will turn them into dust under my feet. Understood?”
“Yes Mistress,” Minion said with a nod.
Lilith didn’t know what she was expecting, but Zelda lying on the ground with Sabrina and Hilda standing over her was not it.
“What is going on here?” she asked, moving forward.
“Queen Lilith!” Hilda jumped in surprise.
“She won’t wake up,” Sabrina said, motioning to her aunt. “We have no idea what to do.”
“Do we know what caused it?” Lilith asked in concern, sitting down beside the redhead.
“She touched some book in Blackwood’s study,” Hilda said, motioning to the leather book. “She’s been going through them, seeing if she can find anything to help Nicholas.”
Right, Nicholas Scratch, the boy currently bound in chains in Hell. Lilith meant to focus on finding a more permanent prison but settling hell was taking more energy and time then she thought. At least her high priestess had been trying.
“I see,” Lilith nodded, moving her hand over the book. She sighed. She’d know that magic anywhere. How did Blackwood get his hands on this? “Ah… there’s the issue.”
“What-”
“What do you know of the Angel Jeremiel?”
“Jeremiel?”
“The angel of dreams,” Lilith said, kneeling by Zelda’s side.
“Like Batibat?”
“The opposite, Jeremiel’s magic fulfills your perfect dream. A tool of witch hunters, it traps you in such a wonderful reality that you never want to wake up,” Lilith said. “But it comes at a cost. Unless they can pull themselves out of it, the individual will be asleep until they starve themselves to death. Due to it being angelic in nature, most witches don’t recognize it for what it is. It is usually quite fatal.”
“Fix it,” Sabrina said.
“I’m sorry?”
“You’re the Queen of Hell. Fix it.”
“Maybe you’ve forgotten the situation at hand,” Lilith said, glaring up at the teen who glared right back. “I am no longer your meek and mild teacher to make demands of Sabrina.”
“Is there something you can do?” Hilda asked, her voice much more gentle, but still desperate. “Please, Lilith. Zelda is the only one who can hold the remains of this coven together and you know it.”
“I will strike a deal.”
“A deal?” Hilda asked.
“There is some… unrest, in hell. I require Sabrina’s aid to quell the whispers. She will come with me to hell, publicly crown me, and I will return her to the surface, safe and sound.”
“Deal,” Sabrina said immediately before her aunt could protest. “Help her. Please.”
Zelda smiled. “I’ll only be a moment.”
Lilith was plopped into the middle of the Spellman’s kitchen.
“Lily!”
Lily?
“There you are!” Zelda came into view and Lilith nearly fell over. She had never seen the redhead look so… happy. A young girl sat on her waist. “Leticia and I were looking for you, were we not?”
“Lily!” The toddler crowed, seemingly thrilled to be in the same room as Lilith.
“I think you were right about Prudence,” Zelena sighed. “I really can’t force her to do anything she doesn’t wish to. She has that Spellman stubbornness.”
“Of course,” Lilith said, almost automatically. What was going on, where was she?
Zelda seemed to sense her distress. “You need to return already?”
“No-not yet,” Lilith said.
“Good,” Zelda kissed her on the cheek. “You promised me dinner later and I plan to collect.”
Dinner? “O-of course.”
Zelda frowned. “Are you sure you’re alright darling?”
Darling? What sort of parallel universe-
Lilith just smiled as Zelda. “I’m fine.”
“Good, Prudence should be picking up the twins soon and then we’ll have the home all to ourselves.”
And the way she said that… dear god her voice just dripped with sin as she winked at Lilith. She moved away, leaving her to an empty kitchen.
Lilith swallowed. This was Zelda’s dream world? Lilith had been expecting something more… grand. Zelda on a throne. A Queen maybe. Perhaps the anti-pope or at least the equivalent of that in the Church of Lilith. Her family in some grand manor, treated like near deities. Lilith had expected to find the version of herself in this reality firmly in hell. Instead they were both in the mortuary and Zelena was treating her like… well, warmer then she normally would.
Lilith made her way into the living room, spotting several family photos above the mantle. She gabbed one off the shelf and frowned. There stood Ambrose next to a teenage Sabrina. However the blonde teen was in front of two adults that Lilith did not recognize right away. Then she noticed how the man had Sabrina’s smile and realized it had to be her parents. Alive. Next to them stood Hilda and that succubus of her’s, Dr. Cerberus, and then next to them stood… stood Lilith, with her hand on a young boy’s shoulder who was nearly carbon copy of Leticia. That had to be Judas, with Leticia next to him. Zelda stood next to Lilith, her right hand on Leticia’s shoulder, a proud grin on her face. Zelda’s other arm around Prudence Night, who looked perhaps the most comfortable Lilith had ever seen the teen.
There was no mistaking what type of photo this was. They were a family, all of them, a big happy family. And there Lilith was, firmly by Zelda’s side like she was always meant to be there.
“I told you, you look perfectly fine in that photo,” Lilith turned to see Zelda approaching her. “I know it was a bit short notice, but it’s one of my favorites,” Zelda took it gently out of her hand, running her finger along the frame. “My parents would be proud to see how the Spellman clan has grown.”
“And me?”
Zelda glanced up at Lilith confused. “What?”
“Would they have approved of a demon as your partner?”
“Not just any demon, the ruler of hell herself,” Zelda grinned, placing the photo back on the mantelpiece. “The Lady of Night. I think it matters little what they think when I’ve ensnared a queen in my grasp, don’t you?”
Lilith had never seen this side of Zelda before, and she couldn’t help but find it intoxicating.
“Come, let us eat,” Zelda said, motioning her towards the dining room. “I’ll make you a plate.”
“Zelda, I am perfectly capable-”
“As am I,” Zelda said. “Go, sit.”
Lilith complied, making her way to the dining room only to see a little beagle trot his way into the dining room.
Zelda nearly tripped over the dog. “Vinegar Tom!”
The dog just yipped at her, causing Zelda to fondly roll her eyes.
Lilith just stared. She had never truly thought of Zelda as an animal person. It made her think of her loyal hellhounds and what Zelda might think of those.
Zelda set down a plate of warm pasta. Lilith had not noticed any cooking, but perhaps that was the beauty of this being a dream. Lilith could see how it would be so easy to remain in this domain. In this peaceful idyllic life, with Zelda. It was a tempting idea, continuing to stay with a gorgeous, strong, intelligent woman who seemed to adore her in this reality. No territorial clashes, no uprisings. Just her, and Zelda, and her family.
But this was not meant for either of them.
Lilith was going to have to wake them up.
Zelda was enjoying dinner. It had been so long since she and Lilith had been able to spend such quality time together. It was nice.
She was just discussing Sabrina’s insistence that Nicholas Scratch be allowed to spend the night when Lilith interrupted her.
“Zelda.”
“Hmm?” Zelda glanced up from her food.
“You trust me.”
“Of course I do,” Zelda said.
“Then I need you to wake up.”
“What?”
Lilith’s face remained neutral. “This reality isn’t real Zelda.”
“Of course it is-”
“It’s not,” Lilith shook her head. “Blackwood still has the twins.”
And with that statement, Zelda clutched her forehead. “No, Prudence just took them. I just saw them.”
“And Nicholas Scratch is trapped in hell. You’ve been trying to find a way to free him”
Zelda fell the pain grow more. No that couldn’t be true. “Stop it.”
“Why would I be here in your dining room?” Lilith asked standing up. “I’ve been in hell since I’ve taken the throne.”
Zelda felt like her skull was about to split clean open. She stood up. “Stop it! Please!”
“Wake up Zelda.”
“No.”
Lilith sighed, and then said in a steady tone. “Edward is dead . He has been for years Zelda. You are the Matriarch of the Spellman family.”
Zelda dropped to her knees, feeling despair begin to overwhelm her. “No. No.”
“You are their matriarch, and they need you Zelda.”
Zelda began to weep as memories began to reflood her brain. Memories of another world.
The real one.
“Wake up.”
Zelda sat straight up on the stone floor, breathing heavily. She thought she could hear somebody talking but everything sounded like it was underwater.
They were gone.
They were all gone.
Zelda felt empty.
It had all been fake.
“Zelda?”
Of course it was fake. She almost wanted to laugh. How could she ever expect to be happy? Every single time she thought she was approaching it, it slipped through her fingers before she could grip it tight.
Someone entered her view of sight. Hilda knelt in front of her.
“Zelda,” She said, quietly.
Zelda just met her eyes, not saying anything.
“Come on, let’s get you home,” Hilda said, helping Zelda to her feet. She passed Lilith who didn’t meet her eyes. Had she seen everything? Perhaps if she was in any other condition, Zelda would have demanded a conversation with the Queen before she left. Like this, however, Zelda knew she wasn't able to confront anyone.
Zelda let her sister lead her out of the room.
She needed a cigarette.
Also food and a cold, cold shower.
But mostly a cigarette.