Black Magic Women

106

"No."

It was such a small word and yet it held so much significance. Nobody had really dared to object to Zelda's plans in the past. Sabrina had, of course, as always made her point clear when it had come to whatever she had thought to be wrong but she hadn't managed to change her aunt's opinion. She had never tried to forbid her aunt to follow through with her plans, knowing fully well that there was a limit to her aunt's patience. Hilda had merely tried to voice her concerns over the years, too aware of the Cain Pit in front of their house.

Neither of them was to start standing up to her at that moment, so the entire room tuned out when Mary spoke up. They hadn't expected her to say something. Despite the dislike of Zelda's plans, they knew that she had been right. They would need to find out who knew about Faustus's visit and sending Zelda was their best option.

"What?" Zelda asked, looking at her lover in shock. It had been a while since they had last disagreed on something, so she almost didn't remember that the brunette could be just as strong-minded as she was. While she could agree that there were more pleasant things she could imagine, she didn't understand that Mary couldn't see that it had to be done.

She had expected her, out of all people, to understand that sometimes people do things because they have no other choice, so the disappointment of her sudden lack of sympathy hit her hard.

"I said, no, as in 'no, you're not going'," Mary said and Ambrose chuckled quietly. He hadn't been much involved when it came to his aunt Zelda's temper and the way she usually didn't take 'no' for an answer, having kept more to himself during his time of confinement to the house.

He had only ever really seen the aftermath of Zelda's fury, finding aunt Hilda crawling out of the Cain Pit once or twice. He liked the way Mary kept his aunt on her toes, though, thinking it was about time the hot-tempered witch had someone stand up against her.

"How dare you say no to me. This is my decision to make, not yours," Zelda said and while a part of her knew that what she was doing wasn't fair, she didn't want to acknowledge it. In fact, she simply concentrated all her attention on Mary's audacity to say no to her, that she completely missed crossing the line.

"This isn't just your decision. We're all involved, so I think it's my right to say no if I think you're putting yourself in danger. We're in this together, remember?" Mary said, trying to ignore Zelda's intent of excluding her.

She knew that Zelda wasn't doing this to hurt her, or at least she told herself so. It had simply been a long day and Zelda didn't know what she was saying. She had been through a lot. They all had been. No wonder she was saying things that were untypical for her. They had all done something like that once or twice...

"Last time I checked my business, was non of your concern," Zelda snapped, knowing she was being unnecessarily mean and vicious. She couldn't help herself though. She had never involved her family, let alone someone she shared her bed with, much in her personal affairs. She was used to dealing with things on her own, with Sabrina wreaking havoc wherever she went even more than ever.

It was a feeling she had never really known to have someone worry or fuss over her. It scared her that Mary didn't accept her need to do this on her own, even if she couldn't see that there was something hiding behind her cruel words.

But she knew, the moment she had said those words, that she had crossed the line and stepped into dangerous territory and dipped not only her toe into the water, but her entire foot. She hadn't intended to push Mary's buttons the way she had.  She could see the hurt flicker across Mary's face and felt her mind pushing her away, shutting her out. If she hadn't known Mary as well as she did, she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, but it was clear to her that she had played all of her insecurities against her.