Chapter 6
It had been fifteen minutes since either if them had spoken. The only sound in her room was Salem running across the floor. Though most of his body healed, Nick swore he still felt the burn of the runes on his body. He could hear his own screams in the dead of night.
"I wasn't as strong as people thought I was," Nick admitted. "I didn't do this bold, heroic thing where people should sing praises to my name. I was tortured, beaten, and punished because I want….I wanted to be and do good."
Sabrina slipped her arm under his, hugging him tightly. "You are, Nick," she whispered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "What you did was brave. Not many people would have been able to do it, none would offer."
"But I wasn't brave," he insisted. "I wasn't strong. I barely managed to survive. There were days I just wanted to die. I begged for mercy….I begged for death, but neither came." His voice began to crack. "I was weak. I was a coward and I never wanted you to see me like that."
He lowered his head and wiped the tears forming in his eyes away before they could fall. Sabrina turned toward him, grabbing his face and making him look at her. She could see the pain and sorrow in his eyes from having just relive his experience. She couldn't imagine how much worse it was actually was being there.
"You, Nicholas Scratch, are not weak. A weak man - warlock, motral, or otherwise - couldn't do what you did," Sabrina could feel the tears stinging her eyes.
"I wouldn't have survived if it weren't for you. All I wanted to do was see you again. Losing you is far worse than anything I went through in Hell. I love you, Sabrina Spellman, and I never want to be without you again." Nick leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her softly at first, but he couldn't control himself. He needed as much of her as he could.
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Her hands were in his hair, pulling his face closer before dropping over his shoulders. His kiss was intoxicating. Knowing now all he had been through, all she wanted to do was comfort him. Let him know he had no reason to hide anymore. She would carry his burden with him.
He laid them down on her bed, moving on top of her. His lips left hers and quickly found her neck. She let out a moan as he nibbled at her skin. She tugged at his shirt until he pulled it off and discarded it on the floor.
"Sabrina, are you in here? I wanted to…." Sabrina and Nick scrambled to pull apart from each other as Zelda walked into the room. The older Spellman pressed her lips into a line at the sight she walked into.
"Aunt Zelda!" Sabrina yelped as she hurried to button her shirt she hadn't realized Nick undone.
Nick had jumped to his feet, trying to find his shirt they tossed aside moments ago. "Ms. Spellman," he said nervously. "We….um….we were just…."
"I am well aware what you were doing, Mr. Scratch," Zelda stated, her tone hard and scolding.
"I think…." Nick stuttered as he desperately tried to find his shirt. He finally found his shirt under an all too relaxed Salem. "Salem….move." he gathered his shirt and pulled it on after a hiss from Salem. "I should probably….leave."
"Yes. I think that would be best," Zelda responded with a cold stare.
Nick turned to Sabrina, giving her a look begging for her help. "Call me later?"
"Of course," Sabrina zaid giving him a sympathetic smile.
Nick leaned down to give her a kiss, but felt Zelda's eyes burning a hole into the back of his head. He settled with a peck on her cheek. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," she whispered back. Nick clumsily made his way out the door. Once he was gone, Sabrina looked over at her aunt. "We were just talking."
"He must be very talented to talk with his tongue shoved down your throat and his hands on your breasts," Zelda mocked.
"Ugh! Auntie Zee! Why do you have to be so mean to him?"
"I'm sorry, am I the only one that has forgotten what he did?"
Sabrina shook her head as she stood up and started fixing her bed. "I forgave him. You should too."
"I would sooner praise the False God before…."
Sabrina shook her head and put her hand up to stop her aunt. "Ok, ok. What did you need Auntie?"
"A change of attitude from you would be the first thing." Sabrina shot her aunt a glare. "Have you tried your dress on for your Aunt Hilda's wedding?"
"I did. The seamstress is making the final adjustments."
"And you found a dress for that mortal social you insist on going to?"
"You mean prom? Yes, I found a dress to wear to prom. It's in my closet."
"You also need to make a decision about what you plan to do after your Baxter High graduation."
Sabrina groaned. "I really don't want to talk about it right now."
"Sabrina, you will be graduating in less than a month. You need to decide if you will continue on with mortal college or, as I would prefer, you will return to the Academy full time. This is a big decision, Sabrina. I wish you would take it seriously."
Sabrina stopped and stood in front of her aunt. "I am, Auntie. I promise. It's just not an easy decision to make. I do need to ask you to give Nick a break."
"A break?!"
"Aunt Zelda! I love him. I know you're still mad about what happened, but he was sorry for what he did and he's changed since he got back."
"Sabrina, men do not tend to change."
"Well he did. He went through a lot Auntie."
"And so did you, Sabrina. Or did you forget it was I that stayed up to hold you as you cried over that boy at night? I wiped your tears and told you things would be ok. He hurt you Sabrina. Unlike everyone else around here, that is not something I can easily forgive."
Nick let out a sigh as he sat at the counter at Dorian's. If he wasn't already mentally exhausted enough from his recap of his time in hell with Sabrina, Zelda's intense feelings of hatred toward him definitely pushed him to the bottle.
"Long night, Nicholas?" Dorian asked as he placed a glass in from of him and began to fill it.
"Oh, Dorian, you don't know the half of it," Nick chuckled. He reached out for the glass, twirling it's contents as he moved the glass in a circular motion.
"Well, I'm sorry you're having a hard night."
Nick laughed. "It's, uh, definitely hard."
"Here's to it getting better then" He held his own glass up to Nick. "Salud."
"Salud," Nick said as he clinked his glass against Dorian's. He finished the contents of his glass and motioned for another drink.
"Make that 2, would you Dorian?" Ambrose said as he slipped into the chair next to Nick.
"Ambrose, nice to see you," Nick said.
"Thank you. We missed you at breakfast this morning." Nick raised a brow at his friend. "Please, Nicholas, let's not pretend that you share my cousin's bed at night. Though I thought there would be more noise coming from the bedframe by now."
Nick sighed. "I'm really not sure if you talking about my sex life with Sabrina or your Aunt Zelda cockblocking me is more uncomfortable."
"Well in order for her to cockblock you, you must be trying to do something with said appendage." Nick smirked as he took a sip of his drink. "Why Nicholas, has little Nicky come out to play?"
"We came close, pardon my pun. Your Aunt Zelda came in and that was the end of that."
"So you….talked."
"We did."
"About everything?"
Nick paused. "We talked about my time in Hell."
"As important as the talk of your tenure in the Pit is, we both know there's more to it. Or have you forgotten the incident that occurred here in this bar between us a few months ago."
"Trust me, Ambrose, I haven't forgotten."
Ambrose took a deep breath. "I like you, Nick. You are a true friend. And at the risk of permanently damaging our friendship, I feel the need to tell you the Satan to honest truth. I didn't think Sabrina should have forgiven you." Nick put his glass down and looked at his friend. Ambrose put his hands up in defense. "Hear me out. You don't what it was like to have see her the way she was. Conflicted between her anger because of your betrayal and he love for you and the need to bring you home.
"I'm not a stranger to the harm the Dark Lord's devotions can do when he calls upon you. But you hurt my cousin. My flesh and blood. I understood, but I couldn't forgive you. Part of me never will."
"You made that very clear a few months ago."
"My point, Nicholas, is you can't hide behind your wit and charm forever. Keeping something from someone - no matter if you think it is for their own good - will end badly. Very badly." Ambrose patted Nick's chest before standing. "I do hope this hasn't effectively ended our friendship."
Nick shook his head. "Nah, we're good."
Three months ago
He didn't know where to go. It was too late to go back to the Kinkles. He had no place to stay at the Academy. He needed to get out of that house. He needed to get away from the fighting. Given he was a major part of it, but he just couldn't take it anymore. Sabrina was in the middle of yelling at him when he grabbed his jacket and walked out the front door.
He had been sitting at Dorian's bar for an hour jow, just tossing back drink after drink. He hoped the alcohol would numb him to the world around him. He couldn't even remember why they were fighting. It started with his not wanting to talk about what he went through, then him lying to her. It got fuzzy after that. They were both shouting to the point Prudence and Hilda had to step between them.
"I should have known you'd be here," he heard her say.
Nick laughed, not turning his head to face her. "Of course you followed me. I say I want to be alone and you just do what you want," he said bringing the glass to his lips, "like always."
"Nick, maybe you've had enough to drink," Ambrose said.
Nick turned to see Ambrose standing a few feet away between them. "What? Couldn't find Zelda to tear me a new one?"
"No one's attacking you, Nick."
"That's right. And no one will, because I'm outta here." Nick finished his drink and stumbled off his bar stool.
"Nick, come on," Ambrose said as he stepped in front of Nick. "You need to sober up."
"Get out of my way, Ambrose." Nick tried to step around Ambrose, but he just blocked his way.
"No, you're in no condition to walk out of here on your own."
"Seriously, man, get the fuck out of my way."
Ambrose stood firm, getting face to face to Nick. There was something in Nick's eyes he didn't recognize. Something he never seen in him before. Despite that, he stood his ground. "Or what?"
Nick didn't know what came over him. He just felt anger rising in him. He felt his hand ball into a fist and suddenly it was swinging at Ambrose. The sober warlock dodged the punch and threw one that landed right on the right side of Nick's jaw. Nick stumbled a moment, rubbing the spot he had been hit.
"Nick, I….I'm so sorr…."
Before he could finish, Nick tackled him to the ground. Nick swung again, landing his punch on the right side of Ambrose's face. The two men were wrestling, knocking over stools and tables in their path. Ambrose somehow got on top of Nick and threw punch after punch as Nick, protected himself.
"Stop it!" Sabrina screamed as she grabbed hold of Ambrose's arm to keep him from continuing pummeling Nick. "Leave him alone," she cried. "Please. Stop hurting him."
Ambrose took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He slowly got off of Nick. The beaten warlock rolled onto his side, holding his head. Sabrina hurried to his side, trying to evaluate the damage done.
Ambrose pulled his cousin to her feet and away from Nick. "If you ever hurt my cousin, Scratch, no being in Heaven, Hell, or Earth will stop me from killing you."
"I'm so sorry about my aunt," Sabrina sighed as she pulled the covers back on her bed. She cradled the phone on her shoulder as she got under the covers.
"Don't worry about it. I've accepted the fact that she hates me and one day plans on turning me into a toad," Nick joked as he undressed.
"I wish you would have come back here."
Nick paused, recalling his conversation with Ambrose earlier. "I don't think it would have been a good idea. Next time, babe." Nick got into his bed, laying back with his phone to his ear.
"What are you doing?"
"Not touching myself, that's for sure."
Sabrina laughed. "What am I going to do with you, Nicholas Scratch."
"Very naughty things I hope."
"Very tempting."
They were both silent for a moment. "I want you to know, if you aren't ready, truly ready, I won't push it. We talked about some pretty heavy stuff today."
Sabrina nodded as if he could see her. "I know. I wish I could have been there to take the pain away or at least make it easier."
"No. I wouldn't want you to have felt an ounce of that pain. What I went through….it does something to you. Something that never goes away." Nick's voice and thoughts drifted off.
"I do know what you meant though. About wanting to….you know and actually being ready." She turned to her side, facing where Nick would usually be in her bed. "How is it possible to miss someone so much? We saw each other a few hours ago."
Nick turned on his side in the same manner Sabrina had, facing her spot in his bed. "I know what you mean, Spellman. Get some sleep. You got school tomorrow."
"I was planning on playing hookie and seeing you."
"As much as I'd love that, you gotta go or your aunt would find out and kill me."
"Fine, leave me to rot at Baxter High."
"So dramatic."
"I do take classes." Nick laughed. "Don't forget prom is next week."
"I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world."
"Good. Ok, I better go since you're making me go to school. Good night. I love you, Nick."
"I love you, Sabrina. Good night."
They hung up at the same time, drifting off into sleep wishing the other was there to hold them.
