Selene Drakul

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   - 'Night, Selene - Gus yawns as he enter the kitchen.
   - 'Night... - I mumble as I take a sip of my blood.
   - I have to talk to you about something...
   - Go on...
   - Well, in a very few days, I'll be fully recovered from the top surgery, which means I can come back to work at the store.
   - I know... - I mumble and look at him - will you kick me out..?
   - No! - his eyes wide - of course not, Selenita! I was thinking if we could both work together, you know, like a duo, specially now that the Court was re-opened and the business are coming back to normal, which means more clients to attend, and we both could attend more people at the same time..! What about that?
   - It's fair actually..! - I look at my cup - I thought you would kick me out after you recovered because, you know, I would be like a parasite, stealing your job, money and apartment upstairs...
   - Why do you think something like that?! - he exclaims - look, I let you stay here because I had empathy for your situation, and now, I don't see you as only as employee, but as a friend too... - he smiles as he taps my shoulder - and also, you actually help around, which is not something a parasite would do..!
   - I love you man, you know that... - I smile at him, he smiles widely.
   Next, my Gizmo starts ringing, I walk out of the kitchen saying:
   - I have to get ready ready for work..!
   - Ok! - Gus responds loud.
   I run to my apartment, close the door behind me and click the big square on the ring, Lyla hologram's appears:
   - Hi Selene! Miguel said for you to go to the Cathedral of Saint Patrick as fast as you can, it has to do with Baal.
   - Oh shit... - I mumble - I'm on my way.
   She nods and disappears. What did Miguel get into this time? I don't like missing work, but this seems like I'll have to...

* * *

   Why would a demon be in a sacred place? The death omen is very strong, especially with that crow following me for two blocks, in the rain with thunders! I don't like the sound of the thunders...
   I arrive at the Cathedral, it seems really normal from the outside, but my senses say otherwise... I go to the entrance, and big door is locked. Great. I teleport to the inside and... The roses... Everywhere... There are skeletons on the benches, a blood Baal seal on the middle of the church, crowns flying everywhere and on the end of the corridor, at the presbytery, Miguel crucified upside-down by the roses like Saint Peter... Only if I arrived earlier to save everyone...
   I run closer to him, he's unconscious... I shake his shoulders. It doesn't work. Then I slap his face, and he slowly opens his eyes, like he was asleep for ages.
   - Miguel, what happened..? - I ask.
   - Hum..? - he looks at me and sighs relief - thanks, Lord, it's you...
   - What..? - I mumble.
   - The person behind this looks like you, sounds like you, it's almost like you, but from... Another world... And yes, there're other worlds similar to ours.
   - What?! - are there any other versions of myself that didn't die that day?!
   - Exactly, and she also said she was the Death Horseman of Apocalypse serving Baal.
   - Apocalypse..? - my eyes wide. It's the end of the world as we know it and I didn't know - where is she?
   - I don't know...
   I create a knife and try to cut out the torns, but they don't do any damage!
    - And you can't cut the torns out, I tried... - he says.
    - Shit..! - I mumble - I'll hide upstairs to attack in case she appears - he nods - try  not to die.
    - You too - he says, I nod.
    I teleport to the upper floor, somewhere where she cannot see me, I create an ax, and kneel down to hide myself and wait for the target. Where is she? Who is she? Next, I hear steps and a voice like mine very angry echoing though the Cathedral:
   - Where's that bitch?
   - I'm looking at her... - Miguel says sarcastically.
   - Shut up! - she shouts - come out, wherever you are! I know you're there! You cannot run away from me, Selene Drakul!
   I hold the ax tightly, her voice scares me somehow, she scares me somehow... I take a deep breath and look at the lower part of the church slyly, she's sitting on the middle of the seal... She's just like me, but her hair is longer and braided. I need to end this even if... The ways are against my morals... But the results justify the ways...
   I teleport myself to above her and fall, hitting her head with the ax. Blood flows everywhere, I can hear the bones craking and the brains smashing, she falls on the ground, not moving at all... I let the ax go and move behind...
   There's blood... There's blood in my hands... Again... Under the lord's house, under the eyes of the saints, under the light of the angels, under the eyes of Virgin Mary... I'm just like this demonic version of myself... A monster, a murder, a sinner, an fallen angel with a blood halo... Or no halo at all...
   - Hey..! - Miguel says, I look at him, he's free now and trying to uptight someone on the altar, I come closer to the presbytery - is it supposed to be over..?
   - It's... Not over... - I hear something behind me, I turn around and my other version is alive and well... How?! - who are you..?
   - I'm Rosis Baal, I'm Death... - she mumbles as she slowly gets up - I'm the end... I AM INEVITABLE! - she laughs loud and maniacally, she looks just like me, but she has a rose on her left eye with some blood flowing out. How did I end up like that..? - let's play a little funny game...
   Next, a few torns, start to grow next no me like snakes, I teleport away but they follow me fast, so I keep teleporting to run way from them. My other version and Miguel are fighting with each other, she tries to shoot him, but the bullets don't penetrate his costume, he attacks her with his talons but she uses the torns as a shield and if Miguel does any damage to her, she recovers immediately like nothing happened..!
   - How in the actual fuck are you doing this?! - she shouts.
   - Said the girl using demonic magic! - I shout back.
   - Shut up! - she tries to shoot me, but I'm able to teleport in time to not get shot.
   I teleport myself to the sanctum, it's closed and very dark... But the place where the eucharist bread should be it's open and the flour and water discos are cracked on the floor... I come closer to the small door with the lamb in high relief, I smell blood inside there... I open it more and inside there's a small rectangle dark wooden box with cross ingrown on the top... My mother's box...
   I grab it and open it, inside there's a beating human heart with the Baal Seal branded on fire on it... Is this a cursed object..? It reminds me of some of the descriptions on the book... I start hearing something beating on the door, I grab the box and teleport out of there.
   - Get your ass back here, you brat! - she shouts - you shouldn't touch someone else's things! Didn't your father raise you right?!
   - I never thought I would meet such rude version of myself... - I mumble.
   I keep running away from the torns, Miguel keeps fighting with the torns, the roses look like snakes looking at me... But they don't look at my eyes, they look at my hand... The one with the box... This is a cursed object. Maybe I can do something...
   I teleport to the center of the seal, she comes closer to me slowly, she says:
   - Return my box, NOW!
   - I return your box and you if you get out of this world and never come back - I say, she smirks slyly, I cannot trust her, I know I can't...
   - With one condition: I need to sacrifice a soul to Baal...
   - Sacrifice mine... And free the people you have kidnapped...
   She snaps her fingers, the roses stop chasing Miguel and free the person on the altar. It's Gabbe... He seems shocked. I notice a few torn cocoons hanged on the celling, near the presbytery, they burn away and people fall from them, Miguel runs to them and caches them on the air and put them on the ground safely. Next, she stands out her hand, I put the box on her hand and she puts the box on one of the benches and goes somewhere else. I look at Miguel.
   - What do you think you're doing?! - he says worried though telepathy.
   - Trust me... Just get the people out of here - I think, he nods.
   She comes back with some incense and a ligther on her hands, she lights the with a ligther and put them on the tips of the seal.
   - Now, stay there... - she says.
   Be strong, Selene...
   - Baal, Domine Tonitruum et Cladum... - she mumbles - Dux Luti Laci, Dux Gulaetiae, hic tibi offero Animam Peccatoris, ut perfundas Animam meam potenter, et me facias fortiorem Angelis... Ad casum siderum Dei, ad casum imperiorum, ad casum regnorum, ad casum humanitatis et ortum Domini et Salvatoris nostri Baal... Nunc ecce Dominus tonitruum! Amen Baal!
   Then the pentagram starts to burn, high gray flames, with the smell of sulfur and incense inviting my nostrils and the sound of the thunders outside the Cathedral and the rain hitting the city. I take a deep breath. I can feel the heat of the flames...
   - Any last words? - she points the gun to me.
   - You lost... - I show her the heart beating on my hand, her eye wides, I can see the despair inside of it, I create an dagger and stab the heart, it stops beating for a second, the seal burns away and the organ starts to heat up, I throw it on the ground and teleport to out of the seal.
   - No, no, no, NO, NO! - she shouts desperate as she starts to cough blood, looking at the fire desperately.
   - Rosis Baal... - a macabre voice comes from the seal, it's shivering...
   From the fire, a ghostly and demonic figure emerges, with the same color as the fire, Baal... But him seems kinda different, he has the face of a woman: Mid-size white hair, blured lipstick and penatrating eyes. He also has a katana on her hand. Very scary, even if I would consider him pretty to the conventional beauty standards. He looks at my other version, who says desperately:
   - Oh, L-Lord of the Thunders..! I-I was hoping to see you, specialy after what happend with the entire p-party, I-I was trying to give you a whole universe alone, but things d-didn't go as I was planing, so I would like to ask you for a second chanc...
   - Silence, Mortal! - the demon interrupts, shouting with surprisingly nice sounding feminine voice - did you forget about our deal? You already had your second chance, and you wasted it...
   - Isn't there something I can do to get a third chance? - she asks in despair - I mean, we're almost like sisters, a family! Wouldn't you help a sister?
   - No... - Baal respond - you should understand your place, you're a human, a fly compared to me, a Destroyer of Worlds, the Lord of Thunders... - she points the sword to Drakul's chest - since the fate of man is equal to the fate of lice, behold your inevitable fate, Death...
   - Please no! - Drakul screams in agony, she tries to run away but the torns grab her feet and pull her against the sword, stabbing her chest. She screams again, roses start to grow out of her chest and she cries in pain.
   - You've got all you wanted... - Baal says with a big satisfied smile - but you've lost all you had left... - she chuckles slyly, but that chuckle turns into a giggle and then into a maniac loud laugh.
   - WHY? WHY? I GAVE YOU MY SOUL, AND YOU JUST PLAY WITH IT LIKE A DOLL! - Drakul rolls on the ground in pain, staining the floor with blood - WAS MY SACRIFICE JUST ANOTHER SOUL FOR YOU? WASN'T I YOUR FAVORITE? YOU SAVED ME! PLEASE NO, I'M SPECIAL!
   Next, her skin starts to turn into a grayish stone, she screams until she's all petrified, the demon smirks one last time and vanishes, like the fire. Now it's only darkness, death and emptiness. The roses start to die, their dry darker petals start to fall and the torns drying.
   I would never sell my soul, my most precious possession...
   I'm as petrified as the stone. What just happened..? I don't move, I don't know how to react. But now it's over... Even if I did something I don't like doing... I'm a monster, even if she was horrible, I don't like killing... Am I worst than her..? I killed as well, but for a different reasons, and still... My halo is still blood...
   The demon was scary... It deminded me of that day with my uncle... What did go wrong with Drakul..? I need to know...
   I kneel down and turn the blood on the floor into a small silver dice. This will be enough... I put it in my pocket, undo the seal and turn back to the presbytery, the eyes of God...
   If you are all that powerful, why did you allow that? Why, Lord? Didn't you love them? You said you loved us, but you allowed that, you allowed that day... I understand if you don't love me, I made mistakes and... sins... But why didn't you stop me..? You could, but you didn't...
   I made the Mother cry... I cry...
   - Hey... - I hear Miguel's soft voice behind me - it's over... Let's get the people out of here...
   I nod, holding back the tears, I go open the door of the Cathedral, it's still raining, but not as strong as before, it's just pouring with no thunders. The crows fly out of there as I wait until all the people get out of here. They don't seem hurt, just scared... I can understand that... I need some time...

Blood Halo: Comic!Miguel O'Hara x OC ImagineWhere stories live. Discover now