5 years ago.
"I don't understand - he didn't just vanish after walking through that forest, he has to be somewhere," I complain in the cave. The mental side effects of searching for somebody for nearly 200 years were starting to take a toll on me. I felt as if I had reached a point of insanity.
200 years. 200 years of trying to search for him - 200 years of revenge built up beside me. I couldn't even remember the face I was trying so hard to get back, all I knew was my black hair and white eyes.
"I know something that could work," she says to me in the darkness. "But it's risky. Dangerous."
"What is it?" I ask quickly. I didn't care about the danger or risk. I had been waiting for centuries for these angels and demons to die, for me to be free. For us to be free.
"You could sneak into Heaven, and find an angel's skin to wear," she tells me. "But you'll need to bring the body back down here. Having that body hidden could save your life if the demons ever found out you're a mimic."
I agreed instantly. There was almost nothing I wouldn't do to return to my old self.
It felt strange. To see Heaven again. I knew my soul would no longer go there. But it also wouldn't go to Hell, I was technically dead right now, my soul would go nowhere. I questioned if the Grim Reaper was hunting me down. I'm dead, yet I still have my soul, he's owed it.
It looked the exact same as it had centuries ago. I knew exactly where to walk and hide, as I was dead, I could pass through the gates. You cannot banish a dead person. I duck behind objects as angels fly around through the sky.
My eyes land behind a large cloud. I see a pair of shoes. I slowly make my way over there, behind the cloud, making sure nobody could see me. I watch the girls back as she stands and practices a spell. Her hair is light brown and wavy.
"Hello," I say. It makes her jump. "What's your name?"
Her eyes widen as she sees me. As if she sees a disgusting monster. People used to tell me I was the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. Now people look at me like I'm hideous.
She opens her mouth, maybe to scream, but I quickly step toward her and put my hands on the sides of her head. Her eyes turn white as I use mind control and say, "You will not scream, and you will answer my questions."
I remove my hands and watch as her eyes become brown again.
She looks confused as she answers, "My name is Valeria Brookes."
"And who are your parents?" I ask.
"Marceline and Joseph," she answers. She doesn't know why she's answering.
"Siblings?"
"No."
"And what is your personality like?" I ask.
"I'm selfless, I'm kind, and I'm smart," she tells me. "Smart enough where they tell me I can go to the boarding school one day."
I look her up and down. I scan her face. She was pretty. I grab a strand of her hair, it's wavy just as mine had been. I decide out loud, "You'll do."
Her eyebrows tug together as she asks, "What do you-"
I do the spell. My teeth clench as it happens, it's painful as my appearance shifts into hers, but I cannot scream.
Eventually, her body drops, and I touch my face. I turn and look around for a mirror, and then I find one. I touch my face as I see myself look like a normal person again for the first time in centuries. As I look at my reflection in the mirror, I say, practicing, "Hello. My name is Valeria Brookes."
I wore her skin for the next five years. I never got caught once, I never slipped up once, I fooled everybody. But unfortunately, fooling the angels had not done me very good. None of them knew where any demons were and many of them ended up being slaughtered 3 years later.
So, I had reached a point of desperation.
I sit in the cave, my back pressed against the stone behind me. I once again spent my time with her, the only person to not betray me.
"I'm losing my mind," I say as I grip my hair. "I can't keep doing this. I can't keep pretending to be her knowing I will never find him - I'm going to be stuck like this, forever."
She's silent for a few moments. But then she speaks calmly, "There is one thing you could do, Luella."
I laughed slightly as she said that. I question, "Yea? Like what?"
"You could make a deal with The Devil," she says. "Your soul for the location of Adonis."
I look into the darkness. I question, "But without a soul, wouldn't I die?"
"Usually. But you're already dead, Luella, remember?" she says. "You do not need your soul."
She was right. I was dead. I was a ghost. I would not die if I gave it away. My anger, my want to get even, it had reached an all-time high as so much time had passed and I was growing tired of spending my time with angels. Especially Gabriel.
"I'll do it," I decide.
I collect a bottle of holy water before I go. As I reach it, I pour the water onto my hands and rub it against my face. My black hair and white eyes come out. The vampires who stand guard at the entry look confused as they see me, mimics are more than rare, but evil creatures tend to like other evil creatures.
"I'm here to see The King," I say to them, and they both exchange looks.
But they let me down. I walk through the fiery Hell, flames are everywhere and demons are everywhere. I pass obsidian walls as I go down a hallway and the doors at the end open for me.
I step inside. I see a King and Queen sitting on their thrones. Their eyes stare at me, shocked as I walk until I reach the stairs below them. I do not bow. I did not answer to him.
"A mimic," he says. He had clearly never seen one before. "What business do you have in The Underworld?"
"I'm here to offer you my soul," I say.
He looks at me. Curiously.
"Under one condition," I say. "You send Adonis to the supernatural boarding school."
He leans forward in his seat. He asks, "And why would I do that?"
"Because that's where the angels are hiding," I tell him. I smirk as I see his reaction.
"Adonis has already been there, he said they were not there," the King says.
"Well, Adonis did not look hard enough," I tell him. That was a lie. There were no angels there - but I would make sure there would be now.
The King stands. Slowly, he walks down the steps, getting closer to me. His eyes look me up and down and he begins to walk in slow circles around me. He questions, "Is it true mimics can do mind control?"
"I don't like to show off," I say with a fake smile.
He stops walking and stands directly in front of me. I was not afraid to give up my soul, I lost it the day Adonis betrayed me.
He lifts his hand up, slowly, and places it against where my heart is. He says, almost to himself, "A mimic's soul. That could keep me alive for at least a few more years."
He shuts his eyes. He begins taking my soul. I could feel it being ripped out of me, detached, but I remained standing. I did not scream. I had no regrets. The faster I had Adonis, the faster I could return to my old self.
He removes his hand once he has taken it. It felt strange, to not have a soul, but I had never felt like I had one anyway. Not in a long time.
He turns around and walks back up the steps. He says to the Queen, "Summon Adonis to The Underworld."
And without a soul, I smirked.
My plan had been going perfectly. The one thing that surprised me at the school was how fast Adonis liked me. I did not have Valeria's personality, only my own. So he truly did fall in love with me all over again.
But he also tried to kill me all over again.
The memories flash. I stepped into his room, he asked me, "What-"
I put my hands on the sides of his head and told him, "Finn is an angel. You're suspicious of him. You will kill him tonight."
I used mind control to have him kill every angel there.
"You will come to my room, look out my window, and see me flying away," I had said. "You'll follow me and see where the other angels hide."
I had used it on the other students, too.
"In the middle of the dance tonight, you will stab yourself with a knife."
"At 5 am tomorrow, you will jump off the balcony to your death."
"Tonight you will go into your bathroom and cut until you hit an artery."
I may have used mind control for a lot of things. But I never used mind control to make him love me.
Word Count: 1572