It had taken 1 year, 4 months and 3 days for Sabrina to figure out how to pull her father from Nick's body. She had taken a breath, sat back and cried as she finally got her hopes up that she would see Nick again… that she would be able to hold him…... kiss him… tell him that she loved him too. It wasn't until he was gone that she realized how much she really did love him. Before all of this she would compare her feelings of Nick to those of Harvey… of how she had loved Harvey.
Yet when Nick was gone, it left a hole in her life…in her heart… in her soul. When she had broken up with Harvey she had been lost and sad. When she had lost Nick, she felt like there was no sun… like there was nothing to look forward to. It was only her drive to get Nick back that pushed her. Each day she got up and went to school, went to study only she could learn more, practice more…. Be more, so she could bring him back.
She still remembered how she had summoned Lilith, asking her to let her go into hell to talk to her about Nick. She had expected Lilith to say no, to say that she was not willing to take the risk. That Sabrina needed to move on and let Nick go. Yet Lilith had told her to come to hell, to her home and talk to her. "Sell her" as she said on what she wanted to do. Then she would decide what to do.
When Sabrina walked through the portal door that Lilith had set up and walked into Hell and it was everything that she expecting and yet nothing she expected. It was hot and overwhelming, loud and terrifying. Yet it was beautiful… at least the palace that Lilith lived in. A rich old castle, full of beautiful things and rooms.
She walked through the living room door and Lilith still looked like Ms. Wardwell and it took her second to adjust after seeing the real a Ms. Wardwell for so long.
"Ms. Wardwell...or Lilith?" Sabrina asked her as she followed her down the hall.
"Lilith." She said with a small smile, "And how are you doing?" She asked Sabrina leading her through to a grand dinning room with a long table. "Please come sit…... I find that I miss your spunky personality and can-do attitude." She said with a smile. "I ALMOST feel bad that I kept trying to kill you."
"Gee thanks." Sabrina said with a grin.
Lilith shrugged, "It wasn't personal….more professional" She said with a small smile. "Now what can I do for you?"
Sabrina gave her a small smile, "I think I figured out a way to remove Lucifer from Nickolas but still keep him contained."
Lilith raised an eyebrow, "And how do you propose that you can do that without letting him free." She said sitting back taking a small sip of her wine.
Sabrina nodded quickly, grateful that Lilith was willing to listen instead of just telling her no. "I think a double box… we pull Lucifer from Nick but put him right into a new body…. Bind them together, then seal the body so it cannot do magic…. then I built a new configuration…. Three by three times stronger then the other. And we place the body within the configuration and then seal the box within a circle. When I am done it will be 9 layers by 9 layers when we included the configuration, the seals, the binding and the circles."
Lilith nodded, "You made sure to hit multiple points of exit…... seal him multiple times so even IF he were to get free you would be able to hold him….it could work… but." She paused and looked at Sabrina, "I didn't think you would be ok with sealing another human to the devil without their permission." She said, "Not your style to take advantage of a human."
Sabrina nodded, "Normally I wouldn't... however, we recently caught a human who was killing both witches and other humans for sport…. I figured they were going to come down here anyway… so the best punishment for him would be to house Satan himself." She said with a small smile. "Plus I told him I would reward him with a small place within his own mind where he can be free in his own fantasy for the rest of eternity…. He was quick to say yes when we showed him what would happen to him down here."
Lilith gave a quick nod, "And if there is a problem when you go to do the switch from Nickolas to the new human… what will you do?" She asked arms crossed.
Sabrina looked Lilith right in the eye, "I will tie him into myself…. Then you will finish the steps to seal him in forever."
Lilith looked at her for a moment then nodded at her, "You would do that… sacrifice yourself?" She asked.
Sabrina nodded, "Nick… he has suffered enough… been here long enough…...I only ask you…." She paused and took a breath, "I only ask that you protect my friends and family if I have to do that."
Lilith looked at her for another moment, "I can do that…... if you can keep him contained for the rest of eternity, I will protect you and yours for as long." She stood and started walking away, "Follow me." She said.
Sabrina stood up and followed her down the hall to a large chamber that held a single bed in the center. Lilith paused in the door way and gently pushed Sabrina forward into the room.
Sabrina slowly walked over to see Nick laying in the center of the bed. He looked so peaceful, still as death except for the soft rise and fall of his chest. She ran her fingers down his cheek and jumped when he moaned and jerked away. She looked up at Lilith, "Is he in pain?" She asked softly as he went back still.
Lilith shrugged, "He is still and quite until he is touched…. then you can see that he is …struggling." She said, "Does that change your mind… to have Lucifer tied to you… knowing that you would be in pain for the rest of your eternity?"
Sabrina looked back down at Nick, her breath caught as a tear slid her face. She placed her hands-on Nick's chest and when he began to thrash around, she pushed her will to be calm into him. She told him she was coming, and it was going to be ok with her magic. He settled and was still as she leaned down and brushed her lips across his with the seal of her promise. Then she stood up and turned to Lilith, "It is my responsibility… my …. My father … So yes... I will do whatever I have to keep everyone in the world safe from him… to keep those I love safe from him." She said looking back down at Nick.
Lilith nodded at her, "I can say that I honestly respect very few humans or witches…. However out of all that I have ever met, you are the one that I will always look to when I know that I need something done and complete…." She tilted her head, "You always do what you think is the right thing, even if that means you are in pain…. No witch or warlock I know would do that."
Lilith walked over to Sabrina and Nick, "We will do what you have asked because I know that you will complete it and keep Lucifer contained at any cost. Plus your new system has more protection and layers." She looked over at Sabrina, "And I will do all in my power to keep you alive, awake and living.
Sabrina gave her a small smile before leaning down to whisper something and brush her lips across Nick's before following Lilith back to the door.
"What did you tell him?" Lilith asked Sabrina carefully.
Sabrina smiled softly, "That I would save him soon…. That I loved him." She said closing the door to Nicks room and watching Lilith seal the door with a protection spell.
They began to walk down the hall when Sabrina turned to Lilith, "You have been a good Queen…. Fair and just." She smiled. "And you raised women up…Was being Queen everything you thought it would be?" She asked.
Lilith gave a small smile, "I have made many changes….. I still have many more to make…. But yes." She paused, "I know that it is not for everyone, but it is mine…. And I deserved it." She turned to look out a large picture window, "I deserve all of this."
Sabrina looked out the window, "I can think of no one better to rule it all." She said.
Lilith looked down at her, "Now when would you like to help Mr. Scratch wake up?"
Sabrina looked over at Lilith, "Tomorrow… I am bringing only two people with me. I am hoping you will be the third in the circle."
Lilith looked at her, "Only two?"
Sabrina gave a soft smile, "Ambrose and Prudence….. Most would not be ok with what I am doing… in fact only you and Prudence know of the back up plan….. I will tell Ambrose after we begin." She brushed her fingers down the window, "I have left letters for others... I will give them to you to give out if that's ok… if they are needed."
Lilith nodded, "I will make sure they are given out of they are needed." She sighed, "Are you sure that you want to do this…. if something goes wrong I fear the only witch I can ever see replacing me will be gone."
Sabrina smiled, "First I see nothing happening to you for millennia…at least… So that is not needed…but more than that I do not want it…. This…" She paused looking out the window, waving her hand, "All of this was made for you to rule… not me… I love the sky and my family and friends…. My small town and humans… I would be miserable down here." She looked over at Lilith, "And you seem to be right at home."
Lilith smiled, "That doesn't take away from the fact that you would be good at it." She said.
Sabrina grinned, "It is a good thing you are too stubborn and mean to perish and leave it for anyone."
Lilith grinned, "You are not wrong."
Sabrina paused looking at her carefully, "You have changed…...you are not as harsh…you are different…"
Lilith looked out over her kingdom, "I met a man named Adam….. he made me feel things…. Believe things…. that I have not felt or believed since the beginning of time…..its his fault I have changed." She said softly. She turned and walked to the door, "But I don't want to talk about him anymore." Lilith stopped in front of the portal she created, "Tomorrow, bring your human sacrifice… and the two witches…... I will set up the room with the boundary spells."
Sabrina nodded, "I will come early, so I can walk you through the different spells that I created as well as the configuration." She turned to walk out but paused and quickly turned to give Lilith a tight hug. She laughed when Lilith patted her on the back awkwardly. "Thank you for helping me free Nick… I know that you could just tell me no and bar me from him."
Lilith rolled her eyes and sneered, "Yes…. but did that warrant a hug?" she said brushing her hands down dress like she was brushing off dirt. "That was foul."
Sabrina laughed, "Yes it warranted a hug…. Sometimes a Thank You is not enough." She said walking up to the door, "But Thank You."
Lilith raised an eyebrow at Sabrina as she close the door but let a small smile grace her face after it closed, then she sighed and turned to ward off what would be Lucifer's prison for eternity and prayed… to herself ….that Sabrina would be able to hold him in the new body an she would not be lost.
-/-
Sabrina came the next day followed by Ambrose who was carrying a sleeping body and Prudence, her arms full of supplies.
"Lilith." Sabrina said to her softly as they walked in.
Lilith nodded at her, "I have created a new cell, once we go in Lucifer will not be able to get out. I have already moved Nicks body into it." She said leading them down the corridor.
Sabrina nodded knowing that she was trying to express to her that Nick, the vessel or herself would be staying within that room for all eternity. She hoped it would be the vessel but knew if all else failed Nick would leave, she would make sure. "Of course… here are these." She said handing Lilith a bag.
Lilith looked down at the bag with a frown, "Are these?" silently asking if they were the letters. At Sabrina's nod she carried them over to a desk and placed the bag on it, "Shall we." She said as she kept walking like nothing big had happened.
Sabrina, Ambrose and Prudence followed Lilith into a dark chamber, the walls and doors inscribed with symbols. In the center of the room there was a circle with more symbols and dead center lay Nick still unconscious and alone. Lilith turned to Ambrose, "Please go set our new vessel next to our dear Nick." She turned to Sabrina, "Have you place the sealing spell on the new host?"
Sabrina shook her head, "I fear that if I seal the vessel and have it asleep then we will not be able to force Lucifer in it…. My plan is for you, Ambrose and Prudence to create the circle where I will wake the vessel, wake Nick, pull Lucifer from Nick push him into the new vessel then put the vessel to sleep. Then I will seal the body and bind it from using magic" She paused looking at Ambrose and Prudence as they set up a holding circle around the one Lilith already created making a double cell. "Then we will place the body into the configuration and seal it within your circle." She paused and took a breath, "Every layer that we can to keep him sealed and held for eternity."
Lilith nodded, "Have you told them the backup plan." She said looking at Ambrose and Prudence.
Sabrina sighed looking over at them and nodded at Prudence who gave her a small smile and nod back, but Ambrose narrowed his eyes, "What backup plan?"
Sabrina bit her lip and walked over to her cousin, "Ambrose if… if I pull Lucifer from Nick and I cannot get him in the other vessel…." She paused looking down before taking a deep breath.
"I will not put Lucifer back into Nick." She said softly.
Ambrose looked at her for a moment before it sank in what she was planning to do, "No…..NO….. I forbid it cousin… you will not stay down here to rot…. I will not help then." He said harshly turning away.
Sabrina grabbed his arm pulling him back, "I have to do this Ambrose…... I can not leave Nick here…. His only crime was being forced by the dark lord to do what we all did…. Follow his will… and then he…. He fell in love with me and his punishment for loving me is to be stuck here…... forever?" She paused and shook her head, "NO…. I refuse to let his love for me be his punishment. …plus…." She paused taking another breath, "Nick is strong, but right now it is only one layer holding Lucifer…. One layer between him and the destruction of the world…. I cannot allow that…" She cut him off before he could cut in, "It Is MY responsiblty… my fault… my …..my father." She wiped away a stray tear, "You only have two choice Ambrose… help or wait outside the door while we do it without you… but it will be a lot more dangerous and possibly worse if you don't help."
Ambrose closed his eyes, "The aunties will kill me…. You know that right….. right after I lose myself for locking you away." He said softly.
Sabrina jumped into his arms, "That is a last resort, I am not going anywhere without a fight… I just have to know that you will listen if I tell you that is what we are doing." She whispered.
Ambrose nodded into her neck as he held her close, "I don't think that you will let me take your place…. Will you?" He whispered.
Sabrina shook her head, "No this is my responsibility… besides I need three on the outside circle to hold… plus I am stronger then you… If anyone is going to be within the circle and get him in the new body, it is me." She whispered back.
Ambrose chuckled dryly, "Leave it to you, to call on my masculinity and strength at a time like this." He said pulling back, "I would follow you anywhere cuz…" He whispered.
Sabrina nodded as she smiled at him and kissed his cheek, "Are you ready?" She called out stepping into the circle. She watched as each of the others took a place around the circle and began to chant a holding spell. She walked over to the new vessel tethering him to the spot with a quick incantation, then slowly woke him up.
She looked down at his face and gave him a smile, "Do you remember the conversation we had about hell…" She asked him softly.
He looked around in fear, "Yes." He whispered.
She nodded down at him, "Do you remember the conversation about how you would be tortured for all eternity for the murders that you committed?" She asked him softly.
He nodded again and mouthed the word yes.
Sabrina gave him an encouraging nod, "Then you still accept my deal? You become my vessel for all eternity, and I will lock you in a small room in your mind… in it you will be in the fantasy that you showed me." She asked.
When the man nodded, she stood up, "Good…. It will hurt when you first accept him, but I will push you into the room as soon as he is locked inside you… and you will never feel pain again." She stood over Nick, "Are you ready?" She asked all in the room.
She waited to see each of them nod at her….. Lilith, Ambrose and Prudence still chanting as the wind began to pick up, their hair fluttering in the wind. The man slowly standing up one leg tethered to the floor. And she raised her arms and began to chant, pulling the sleep spell from Nick slowly until she saw his eyes begin to flutter and the red of his pupils come out.
"MY…MY…MY." Lucifer said as he slowly stood up. "You are finally waking me up…. I was having so much fun inside this head…."
Sabrina swallowed hard before clearing her throat and begining to chant,
"I release you from the body you have been placed in
I release you from the vessel that has held you
I release you into your own flesh
I release you into this world."
She watched the surprise go over Nick's face as she said the spell again and grinned when she said it the third time and he felt himself beginning to pull apart from the vessel that held him.
Sabrina blinked as she watched Lucifer form next to Nick, who fell to his knees. She so desperately wanted to run to Nick…... to gather him in her arms and hold him…. Ask if he was ok... but instead she stood taller and began a new chant…... one she had created to push Lucifer into the new vessel. A new binding spell that forced both parties without permission if needed.
Her voiced raised she began,
"I force you into the body of the willing
I bind you into the vessel that has claimed you
I force you to merge with the prison I have assigned you
I force you from this world and bind you to the vessel."
She raised her voice with each round, growing louder and louder. She watched in fascination as Lucifer began to understand what they were doing and fought against her… she felt it in her soul, they way he scratched at it and clawed for footing in this world.
She was so focused… pushing so hard that she didn't see Nick look over to her as he was kneeling on the ground in wonder. She didn't see the confusion on his face as he took in Sabrina chanting and Lucifer fighting her… she didn't see Lilith, Ambrose and Prudence chant harder to hold Lucifer within the circle. She missed the look of fear on the vessels face…. all she did was chant harder and harder…. Push harder and harder…... But she finished her by three chant and Lucifer was still standing there, fighting against her hold… against her spell and she felt herself begin to waver.
She physically stumbled back as Lucifer pushed partially hard against her will. She looked into his eyes and knew that she had moments before she changed her spell. One more push and she was falling to her knees and she knew that she had to change options. She closed her eyes and looked at Lucifer, pushing herself to her knees.
She pushed her hands against Lucifer and began again, tears running down her face, calling out
"I push your will away.
I take your choice.
I pull you into myself
I bind you to my soul."
but paused before she could say it a second time when she heard Ambrose scream out to her, "NOOOOOO Sabrina… fight for the other spell…. Fight for it, do not give up yet….. fight for me cousin."
Sabrina shook her head "I don't think that I am strong enough." She whispered, "and I cannot let him free."
She missed the fear rolling through Ambrose face… the fear through Nick's face as he realized what she was about to do. She missed the worry on Lilith's face as she chanted all the harder to hold the circle. She missed the push of strength that Prudence sent her.
Instead she felt as Nick crawled over to her and put his arms around her, his hands intertwining with hers. She felt his push of magic into her, heard his voice whisper down to her, "I will not let you go…... so we either put him in the vessel or I take him back with in me."
Sabrina nodded against his chest, "Ok…... I will not let him back inside of you… so that means the other vessel." She whispered closing her eyes and gathering her strength.
"Are you ready." He whispered to her.
Sabrina nodded, "Nick…. I love you." She whispered. And felt the tears started to roll down her face when Nick pulled her tighter against his chest. "I am sorry."
Nick shook his head, "There is nothing to be sorry for…. I love you and we will beat him…. So, are you ready?" He whispered in ear.
She nodded holding her hands up and raised her voice again, calling out…. but Nick this time echoed her chat, pushing his own magic and strength into it and they began,
"We force you into the body of the willing
We bind you into the vessel that has claimed you
We force you to merge with the prison I have assigned you
We force you from this world and bind you to the vessel."
They watched and felt as Lucifer fought harder this time, pushing and screaming at them. But they kept the chant going. Saying it for a second time and watched as he stumbled back towards the new vessel, their words like a wind pushing him against his will. They started the chat for the third time and Sabiana put all of her magic within the chant. Watching with each word as Lucifer began to merge with the new vessel until the last word was uttered and the vessel was screaming in rage with bright red eyes.
Sabrina fell forward, breathing hard as she felt the magic within her begin to wane. Nick fell next to her, exhausted and worn his eyes sliding closed. She breathed deep before pulling herself to her feet and walking over to where the vessel was screaming, still tethered to the floor. She did a quick sleeping spell watching the vessel fall to the ground, then knelt down next to him, reciting the spell that she promised him. Pulling him into a small room in his mind, locking it away from Lucifer's influence and pain.
She began to sway in exhaustion as she casted over his body, placing the biding spell so it could perform no magic without her breaking the binding. Then she locked the vessel and Lucifer together permanently, so that if all else failed he could not leave the body even through death.
She was pale as snow and sweating as she pulled the last of her strength to place the body within the configuration. She placed one hand on the vessel and one on the configuration, uttering a few more words until the body disappeared, locked away.
Ambrose gasped when he watched her fall forward, passing out. He looked to Lilith who gave a small nod, dropping her arms. "We must finish the spell." She said walking over to Nick to pull him from the circle. "Nick, wake up… we have to seal him in the room."
"Sabrina…" he murmured. "Where is Sabrina." He looked over to see Ambrose turn Sabrina over and lifting her up carefully to walk her out of the circle.
"Is she ok?" He asked slowly standing to follow.
Ambrose shook his head, "I don't know…the magic she just preformed… it came at a price…. And it was a lot of magic…." Lilith took Nick to lean on the wall before walking back over to the first circle sealing it, then to the second circle sealing that one until she was at the last circle sealing that one.
She looked from Prudence to Ambrose, "We have made a prison made up of 9 layers by 9 layers… if anything will hold him. It will be this." She followed them out into the hall before closing the door and sealing it with yet another spell. "Only I or Sabrina will ever be able to release him…... and more Sabrina then I, for she is the one who bound the body… and only she can unbind it." She looked down Sabrina who was unconscious in Ambrose's arms, "Follow me, lets see if we can heal her."
Prudence helped Nick down the hall following Ambrose and Lilith until they came back to the main sitting room with a great fire. Ambrose laid Sabrina on the couch, "Brina…...cousin… can you wake up for us?" Prudence went to lead Nick to the chair but he shook his head walking over to Sabrina instead, gently pushing Ambrose out of the way so he could kneel by her.
His hand shook as he pushed her hair out of her face, "mea illuminatio….. It has been to long since I have looked in your eyes… please I am begging you… open them for me." His heart tripped when she stayed still and unmoving. "Please... please." He said brushing his lips across hers. But she still didn't move, she was barely breathing, and his heart began to race, he looked up at Lilith who stood leaning over the back of the coach, her hands hovering over Sabrina. After a moment she shook her head down, her eyes sad.
"I can not wake her up… she is in a deep coma…. She used her magic…. To much of it…. She is hovering between this world and the next." She whispered.
Nick shook his head, "She was not supposed to…. this is….." His voice broke, "How could you let her." He stopped placing his head on her stomach.
Ambrose felt his own eyes watering as he looked down at them, "It was her choice… her fight… since the day you were taken…..." He paused as Nick looked up at him, "She loved you more then anyone else…. More then herself…. She was willing to give everything to save you."
Nick shook his head, tears rolling down his face, "At what cost…. Now I am here, and she is gone." He brushed her white locks off of her pale face, "This is worse because at least I knew… I knew while I was stuck that she was safe…. That she was happy." He whispered.
Prudence shook her head at him, "But that's just it, Nickolas…She wasn't happy…. She was miserable…nothing made her laugh or smile…the annoyingly peppy girl that we all hated became a shell of who she was…. She was a shadow of herself, that lived and breathed to find a way to get you back…..." She paused to look down at Sabrina, "She became a friend to me… a real friend and I could see the pain she was in every day…. Every moment… nothing happened without her thinking of you in some way."
Nick looked down at the sleeping form of the girl he loved, "How do we help her?" He asked no one in particular.
Ambrose and Prudence shook their heads, but Lilith spoke out loud, "There is nothing that we can do but wait…. To see if her magic is strong enough to regrow and wake her." She said softly.
Nick looked up at Lilith, "And if it's not…. Her magic, if it is too weak?" He whispered.
Lilith looked away before whispering, "Then she is lost to us and this world."
Nick looked down at Sabrina, his hand running down her face in a gentle caress, "You are stronger then all of us here…. Your will is stronger…. You will wake up." He whispered down to her. "You have to be stronger…. For me… you must come back to me… I fear that I am to selfish to live without you now." He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead onto hers, "I love you…... mea illuminatio, I love you…"
