Initium (The Start) x Book 1 of "The Divine" Series

Present Day:

The stench hit my nostrils before I could see the cause. It had taken my brain even longer to comprehend the scene in front of me. I couldn't even begin to make sense of it all. Everything happening all at once, too fast to keep up with.

Flames dancing before my eyes, like hands reaching up to the starless black night sky.

A vision of chaos amidst a blazing inferno that began engulfing the city.

Deafening screams of horror and despair from the injured echoing loudly, drowning out the wails of sirens from help that would ultimately fail to succeed.

People fleeing for their lives, running blindly through the streets,

that were thick with black tar-like smoke. I could see them choking upon it as it filled their lungs, their panic stricken eyes widening, as they unknowingly faced their untimely demise.

Heavy drops of rain had begun falling from the sky, like Mother Nature's feeble attempt to neutralise the flames. As if s few spots of rain could stop the fires from below, as if released from Hell itself. As if a small spattering of rain could even try to control them as their wrath clawed through the earth like the Hell Hounds, unwilling to relinquish their control on the irreparable damage ripping through each and every building.

It's insatiable hunger for destruction, leaving nothing but death in its wake. Everything and everyone who would cross paths with it, would all end up in the fiery furnace. Nothing was sacred, no one was safe. Not matter how hard they tried to hide.

Lurking in the shadows, behind the thick bellows of smoke, I watched it all unfold from beyond my physical body. Relishing in the way that I could see it sll. How I could feel it all.

Revelling in the destruction of all of her hard work, enjoying how it was being dismantled piece by piece. Torturous for her no doubt. For once I was uncaring of her thoughts, her feelings, all of her creations will burn, her depiction of her perfect world shattering before her very eyes. Useless and unable to prevent what was yet to come, The pain, the panic, the devastation; all that coursed through this city, through this country even.

This city was just a snapshot of the total annihilation, the impending doom that faced them all. Mirroring scenes identical to this, from all over the world, at this precise moment in time. Even if she was able to prevail though it all, there would be nothing left.

Only a desolate wasteland that I had once called home.

What had taken her over several millennia to fashion, would take a mere matter of minutes to eradicate. Unravelling all of her hard work, her labour of love, by pulling at one single thread.

This would bring the end to the world, to all life as we know it. The world will burn until there is nothing left; relentless in its mission, until everything was scorched, decimated. Leaving in its wake piles of ash as tall as the buildings that had once tall and proud. A graveyard of bones trailing across the lands, instead of the thriving societies she had once lived there. That she had once been so proud of.

All of this may have been started by her.

But it will end with me.

This was not the result of the world-scale war that was on the cusp of fruition.

Not because of the impending missile attacks threatened from beyond the seas.

No, it was not caused by any of that.

The cause of this catastrophic destruction, on this worldwide magnitude was...

Me.

***

POV - Unknown:

"Hello?!"

"What should we do?"

"Hello?!"

"Why don't we try-"

"Hello?!"

"Do you think we should -"

"HELLO?!"

Muffled voices were surrounding me, their presence slowly suffocating me. I could feel my lungs depleting, as if the the oxygen was being sucked out of them as the crushing pain in my chest intensified.

If I was going to die, I wanted death to hurry up and consume me. This arduous, prolonged torture of never ending pain, was something I could not take anymore.

I really did just want to die.

These voices were distant at first, but each time one of them spoke, their voices drew closer. They weren't just growing in volume, their voices were laden with emotions, no matter how handled they thought they were trying to conceal them.

I could hear the urgency in their hushed exchange. I could feel their uncertainty Overwhelming me. I could taste their fear, the salty droplets of their perspiration as they leaned over me, their faces now inches from my own.

I didn't need to open my eyes to know who they were, to know what they wanted. I didn't need to be able to see my surroundings to know where I was or why I was here in the first place.

I knew everything and everyone.

I even knew what was coming, before it had even happened; events that were coming, looming over us all like a heavy oppressive cloud. A series of occurrences that no one could prevent from happening, that no one would see coming, until it was too late.

Life was always the same, like a broken record repeating itself.

Born, contend, die. A continuous loop she had manifested for her creations.

Everyone of us had a predestined fate, myself included.

Truth be told, the choices made throughout our lives, were ineffectual, immaterial, irrelevant, a false hope given to us that lead us to believe that we could change our Fate. But in reality, the journey never truly mattered, we were all heading towards the same destination: to the dark abyss, to the finality of death. One way or another.

As my consciousness returned, it became harder to block out the light, to ignore the warmth that radiated from their bodies that were too close to mine. Too hard to ignore their breath on my face as they learned over me.

It was difficult to remain in control of the situation, knowing all that I knew, unable to prevent the sequence of events that were yet to happen.

I didn't want to wake up, at least not yet anyway.

I was not ready to accept my fate.

I was not prepared to face the reality that would befall upon me, once I opened my eyes,

***

Alice

It was the start of winter when colour began to drain from the world, into a monotonous canvas of grey.

Gone were the songs of birds, which became the soundtrack to life, which harmonised in the wind that softly fluttered the petals of blossoming flowers.

The feeling of dread and sorrow as life wilted and withered under the weight of the oppressive atmosphere and the drastic change in temperature.

The wind that was once gentle battled against branches of centuries-old trees, threatening to uproot them and destroy the wildlife hiding within. Sheltering from the bullets of ice cold rain that would attack from all directions.

Today was an omen of what this season was yet to bring. An omen of what was yet to be discovered, about the world, and about me.

I always knew I was different, that I saw things that no one else did, felt things in a way which was unfathomable at first.

I wasn't your typical university student.

"Move over! Make some space for me" her voice called, stirring me from my reverie, from my observation of the world behind the fogged up window.

The scent of the damp earthy smell radiated from her, overpowering the sweet floral perfume she usually wore.

Reluctantly I tore my eyes away from the dreary scene outside, of the world beyond the bus window, to see who it was that spoke, although I knew the answer without having to look at her, but I did so nonetheless.

A pair of honey gold eyes bore into me like fire. I could feel them piercing into my soul. as I studied her, unmoving,

Her typical platinum blonde hair was now several tones darker and clung to her face like a frame around a photograph. Water droplets beaded at the very ends of her strands of hair, clinging on to the tips, threatening to fall, unrelenting in their desperation. Or to succumb to the gravitational pull which was weighing them down.

Before me, staying with the movements of the bus, unsteady s little on her feet was Effy. My best friend. We known each other since practically since birth.

In this part of town, it wasn't rare or uncommon to known people your entire lives. Once you were here, you spent your whole life here, stuck in limbo here, as if this was purgatory. Everyone knew everyone and families and friendships ran generations deep.

Apart from my family. my parents moved here when my mother was pregnant with me, were fresh meat, new blood. According to her, they had found it difficult at first, to be welcomed into such a community, the whole suburb didn't like change, didn't like intruders.

Although things did start to improve once I came along, once they had proven to everyone that they had made this their home, has shown them that they made no plans to leave any time soon.

Effy's mother was the first one to show kindness to my mother, to include her in the book club she ran, until eventually my mother started running her own little cookery club in the local community centre. The hub of the community. It was supposedly haunted, by some of the mayors from time gone by, who shot himself and his wife.

"Are you moving or not?" She asked me, growing impatient. She had always been the bossy, domineering one between us, I think that was why we got on so well, and what had made us good friends since the age of nine, when we used to talk to the village primary school together, considering at the time she lived three doors away from us.

Now though, she live more to the outskirts of the village, due to a messy divorce between her mother and father. Divorce was a taboo subject in the village, it was 'hot' gossip for years amongst the other housewives and mothers. That was the reason Effy gave me for the move anyway, that the whispers had driven them away, but I knew because her mother that told mine, that she was struggling to afford the upkeep of such a grandiose house in the village.

I shuffled closer to the window, moving my bag and coat of of the seat beside me. The way she slumped down, I could tell she was in a mood with me, annoyed because I had kept her waiting whilst my reminiscent daydream played our,

There was a perk for being as close to someone as we were, for knowing her as if she was an extension of my own self. I probably knew her better than she would ever know, knowing her various mood swings from the different facial expressions on her face. But she would never fully know me for who I am, or know all the secrets I was able to bury.

"You ok?" I asked her, as she shrugged off her sodden backpack, and flimsy denim jacket.

"Yeah" she murmured as she sat back properly in the seat. "You?"

I nodded, as I took in her heart shaped face, pale complexion, the small black smudges of her mascara beneath her honey gold eyes. She was by far the prettiest out of the two of us, without a shadow of a doubt the one all the boys in uni were attracted to.

She has the figure, the height, the defined cheekbones of that of s model. What guy wouldn't they want her? Especially in comparison to me: an average looking girl with ginger unruly tangle of curls for hair, who was both short in height snd in temper.

Despite the her stubbornness, despite the pissed-off look on her face, I could feel her energy, this thrumming of excitement, buzzing within her. It was clear her annoyance with me was only temporary.

Within a matter of seconds she smiled at me, her unable to contain it any longer. "so..." her voice chimed, high pitch snd have you heard about Josh?"

Alice

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help it. It was my involuntary, instinctive, reflex reaction whenever his name was mentioned, which unfortunately happened a lot. Effy could not stop herself, Josh has been living rent-free in her head for years, he was all she could think about, all she could talk about.

It was rather irritating, listening to the continuous documentary of his life, as if he were a celebrity. The latest news of who he was seen with, the cheating rumours, the drama that came part and parcel of being the most popular person. Not just in primary or secondary school, but it seemed the entire university campus, hell, this entire part of town was under his spell. He has everyone eating out of the palm of his hands, holding onto his every word, as if he were god.

"Pfft. He would make a terrible god". She whispered silently. The little voice that plagued my every waking moment, my every dream. This voice was a part of me, but she was not me. She was a parasite, living through me.

I must have been missing some important information about him, as everyone swarmed to be his minions, as if he was some kind of king, or dictator. "Better."she whispered.

One thing was for certain, regardless of who he was, or who ever he thought he was, I wasn't following him like everyone else, I was not going to become a sheep, a follower. Another person to pander to his already over-inflated ego.

As much as I hated to admit it, I lost a modicum of respect for Effy when I learned of her crush, I felt a touch of disappointment towards her, as day by day she turned more into a Josh-groupie and less of the friend I once knew.

He had been her crush for what has felt like forever, intensifying further when she discovered he would be attending the same uni as us. "Can't be that much of a somebody if he is going to a local uni, not abroad or Cambridge or Oxford" the voice piped up. I smirked, sometimes we were on the same page.

"He broke up with Sienna!" She squealed in a childish whisper. Scared of being overheard by the other students from our university; Valkyrie's Hall, as the bus slowly began to fill up.

I smiled at her, pitying the way she would always hope that she would become his girlfriend after he broke up from whomever his latest victim was. Always clinging onto the hope, pushing herself into his sights, trying her hardest to get him to notice her. However she was always coming away disappointed, disheartened vowing he wasn't worth her time, yet within a few days she was obsessed with him again.

Truth be told, I was surprised he hadn't taken advantage of the fact she openly and humiliatingly offered herself to him. She really was quite gorgeous, far better looking than any of his latest conquests.

"Perhaps he is intimidated by the overly pretty ones" she quipped, and to an extent I agreed, it was either that or he went for the girls who were nobodies in his eyes. Those girls he saw as beneath his social status, who would rely on him, revel in their newly found popularity, too scared of the consequences to fall from his grace than question him or his actions. Those he could use to further boost his egocentric disposition, whilst still be able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he pleased.

Josh was two years older than us, although in the same level as us at university due to his extension of his "gap-year". His reluctance to give up enjoying the delights of the world, to soak in Sun's rays and breathe easy in the tranquility of peace.

His favourite quote, one that formed his usual spiel he would spout to any pond who was willing to listen to his drivel: "Work is an unavoidable part of life, to some it can bring meaning, be an ambitious drive in their lives, however for the many we become slaves to the big corporations who would rather pay peanuts then respect its employees"

It was no coincidence that he donned this devil-may-care attitude, flouted as many rules as possible snd lived exclusively up to the bad-boy reputation that preceded him. He had that charismatic charm that allowed him to get away with anything and everything by everyone; as all the girls loved him, forgiving his every sin whereas all the guys wanted to be him, wanted to mimic his fast and carefree lifestyle.

He was the epitome of physical prowess; an athlete, always working out at the university's gym, lifting weights and constantly showing off his Latest achievements. He knew how to wear the crown of popularity, and despite my better judgement, I knew that he worse it well.

I didn't want to crush my friend's dreams, but they weren't even on the same planet when it came to relationships. Despite her attractiveness, she had never been in a serious relationship. I knew that she was still a virgin, had only gone as far as a slight drunken fumble, she had always held the same view as me, our virtue was to be saved for the right person, someone who would value it.

It pained me to know that thought that Josh would be that person, naive to believe that he cared about such things. I knew different, I knew he would eat her alive if anything was to happen with him, I also knew that she would deeply regret it, later on in life.

They were two polar opposites, who would never work. Effy being a shy, timid girl, who always played by the rules, too scared to say the wrong thing, do do anything that could offend anyone.

Unlike Josh who strives to cause as much offence as possible, loving to humiliate anyone if given the opportunity and the arsenal to do so. He p hated authority and saw rules as challenges, only created so that he could break them. One by one.

I despised every part of him, every fibre of his being repulsed me, we had never spoken, and I planned to keep it that way. I tried to control it, tried not to reveal the full extent of it to Effy, but it proved difficult when my hatred was fuelled even further because of her unabated love for every part of him, unconditional and inexplainable.

"Effy-" I sighed, getting to my feet as the bus drew to a stop outside the university campus. The vast buildings to the left of us towered several stories high, people in their hundreds were spilling into the main entrance already.

I looked at her, her eyes showed the determination of a hunter tracking down its prey, it was then that I had no choice but to admit defeat, accepting the fact that deep down I knew that no matter how many times I told her, how many times I would warn her, she would never listen. Her rose-coloured glasses as thick as beer bottles, seeing only what she wanted to see. "Effy, you shouldn't worship him, and the ground he walks on...he isn't God" I told her, my last ditch attempt to engage her to even listen to me.

She shrugged and looked over her shoulder, "he may not be God, but I will make him mine." She winked. "One day."

***

POV - Unknown:

Fuelled by hate.

Desiring to destroy.

Striving to be all powerful.

I had adopted the ancient Videshan mantra; to create fights between my enemies, to divide them.

My aim to distract my enemies from attacking me, deflect their attention to their own quarrels amongst themselves. These conflicts between themselves weakening them so that they stood no chance against me,

The oldest tactic of war: divide and conquer.

I hadn't always been this way, hadn't always been so overcome with this deep loathing for the world. The people, the cruel twists and turns of life, of this predetermined fate had changed me. Had made this way. I had no control over it, I just had to embrace the darkness, accept who I have now become.

Humans have always been the same, since the beginning of time. Driven by the deadly sins; pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. All premeditated to be self-destructive, inflicting pain and suffering on others and ultimately the cause of their own demise.

Ever since Eve bit into the forbidden fruit, humankind was destined to fail. I should have seen it then as I see it now.

They all need to be destroyed.

The slate needs to be wiped clean, a fresh start in a desolate land.

Back to the drawing board, coming up with bigger and better ideas.

How could I change things? To make the necessary improvements it so desperately needs? To create an Earth 2.0

How could I make a world free from evil? Free from suffering? Free from pain?

When the pain, the suffering, the evil, was all that I know?

***

Josh

I couldn't pinpoint what it was about her, why she intrigued me so.

There was something about her, something that compelled me to her.

A certain je me sais quoi about her that truly fascinated me.

It wasn't necessarily her looks; quite plain, quite average, quite unforgettable really. There was something else about her, almost indescribable, for there were no words that could do it justice.

You could say she had an elegance about her, a power, an aura. One that shone brilliantly like s beacon, even though it was invisible to the naked eye. The warmth she radiated was like an open fire, a fire that matched the colour of the tangle of curls on her head.

I liked that she wasn't like any of the others, it seemed to appeal to me more. She paid no interest to who I was, who my family were, ignorant to the influence that I held because of my inheritance.

Perhaps she truly didn't know, after all she may have been born here, she may have lived here her entire life, but my family legacy ran much further than just my father. Our name could get us into trouble, just as easily as getting us out of it.

Perhaps she did know that I was the youngest son of Charles Morgan, of The Morgan Industries. My father was a hard bastard, a cruel father, and was 't one to be easily impressed by anything, but he garnered respect from his success. He had taken a small family business he had inherited from his father and transformed it into a multi-billion pound empire.

I had been watching her, from the driver's seat of my car, as she got off of the bus with her irritating friend, her head down holding onto the straps of her heavy-looking backpack. Her shoulders hunched, as she battled the weather to get through the main entrance with rest of them. There was nothing really about her appearance that stood out, other than that bright shock of hair, and her piercing green eyes.

Her body language was defensive, reserved, almost as if she were angry as she marched through the crowd, I was losing sight of her as she weaved in and out of people, only being able to follow the fiery curls on her head amongst the monotonous sea of brown and blonde heads.

This term I had vowed to make an effort to get to know her, to try and convince her of my charm, but we were already nearing the end of term, and she hadn't engaged in my attempts of conversation with her, hand's even glanced my way despite the fact that she knew I was staring at her in one of our classes together.

She infuriated me, with her lack of enthusiasm to es t to know me. Everybody wanted to know me, to become friends with me. Hell girls were backstabbing their best friends if they thought they had an opportunity to be draped on my arm, but not her.

As frustrating as she was, it was also quite refreshing. I had been so used to everyone being overly friendly, offering themselves up as easy targets of my lust, that her cold shoulder, her disregard for my existence, her complete lack of willingness to want to know me was new territory for me.

For once in my life I was the one who was making all of the effort, whose attention was one-sided. I had been going out of my way to engage her, to involve her in my life, in my social circle, but to no avail. Every time she would rebuff my advances.

She had become my next challenge, and it wasn't going to be easy. She was someone whom I had to chase, whom I needed to make more of an effort to get to know.

I wwmted to, especially if I had my sights on her, and only her.

I was going to take her, I was going to make her mine.

But I needed to take baby steps first.

I was going to ask her to be my date for the Winter Solstice Soirée at the end of the month.

***

Christopher - 1988

It was hard to stay focused, driven to be brink of insanity listening to the steady staccato beat of shoes on the cobblestones that lined the street outside. Everyone was going to be in attendance tonight. I had to be on top form. Valkyrie Hall, named after Norse mythology and the local historical links to the Vikings, needed to be spectacular. It needed to live up to its name. Needed to be as grandiose and as extravagant as feasibly possible.

It wasn't just a party, being hosted by a nobody.

It was the formal gala, hosted by me, the mayor, and my wife Selene.

Only the most elite and prestigious guests were invited to attend the gala tonight, it was all that anyone could talk about, both those invited as well as those who were not, leading up to the event.

Stirring up jealousy and envy between others was a speciality of hers, predominantly done for her amusement, those who wed in opined were by my darling wife's approval. Selene made no secret of how selective and how pretentious this gala was going to be, it was an honour to have made the guest list. It showed whose company she could tolerate, as there wasn't many people of whom she actually liked.

It was merely for show, the gala, a stage for those invited to showcase their elevated social class. To flaunt their assets and boast about their achievements.

The irony was that this was Selene's world, Selene's infamy that flocked them to this gathering, rather than mine, their mayor. It was bizarre how easily she had slipped into this pretentious way of life, this judgemental and isolated existence, dining with the upper class, the crème de la crème of guests, when this was not the world or the social status she had been born into.

Raised in the streets amongst the sewer rats, her family has no wealth, in fact they held very little to their name. They could not afford to feed two hungry mouths, proffering her brother over her. When I met her she meant nothing to no-one, not even to her own family. They showed no concern for her, could not care if she lived of died as she struggled to fend for herself. They had been cruel to her all her life, but the streets were not much kinder. showed any compassion or concern for her. She truly was a nobody until our paths crossed.

I remembered in minuscule detail, our first meeting. When I had when I first met her, practically stumbled across her one summer evening over five years ago.

Work had grown tiresome and monotonous, I had deadlines to meet and important meetings to schedule, people to butter up if I was to become the the new mayor the following year. I had to think of something that made me stand out, something that my opponents didn't have, but so far I was drawing a blank, unable to think straight. Deciding that an evening stroll would be the best thing to clear my head.

The sun was setting in the distance, casting the sky in a sunburnt orange hue that graduated into crimson and violet, accentuating the slate grey clouds that imposed overhead, threatening to make good of the local weather reports of out-of-season storms.

I had reached the park, without realising. It was as if an invisible hand was guiding me towards her. Compelling my feet to walk in a different direction that the usual route I would take, as if they were acting independently from the rest of my body, as if they had s mind of their own, taking me unawarely into her path.

Selene says it must have been fate. I say I had just gotten lucky, being in the right place at the right time. Although my father always told me "man makes his own fate, makes his own luck. Man can only succeed through sheer hard work and determination." I had heard it so much it had become emblazoned in my mind, a constant reminder that I had to work harder than the rest of them, if I wanted to be the better, more powerful and successful than them all.

That day, as I entered the park a booming clap of thunder sounded overhead, reverberating through my body, causing the birds in the nearby trees to caw and desert their nests. Horses pulling carts in the street that ran adjacent to the park, shrieked out in pure fear.

Then the rain began.

Thick heavy drops plummeted to the ground with no mercy. It's suddenness had caused flooding in the streets, soaking anything and everything in its patch instantaneously.

Deep regret set in. My tailor-made suit was made of the finest materials, designed to emphasise my status, my power. Not to withstand this torrential downpour. What would people think if they were to see me in such a sorry state?

Head bowed low, holding onto my hat I stomped through the park to the corner of FairGrove, a short distance from my abode. There was absolutely no way I could return to the office, not looking like this.

Perhaps an early night would do me food anyway, a good nights sleep was perhaps what I needed to refresh my mind, have a fresh head for a fresh campaign.

Pushing forward, completely ignoring others scurrying around beside me. That was when we crashed into one another, both of us taking several steps back to see whom, or what, we had come into contact with.

Typically, I would explode, shouting profanities and showing my aggression at the lack of respect from those of lower status. How dare they walk into the path of me, do they not know who I am?

One look at her was all it took for all of my words become lost somewhere in the back of my throat. Disregarding the rags in her hair and the tattered dress she wore, she was the vision of pure beauty.

She blushed, flustered and embarrassed gathering her belongings that she dropped during our collision. It wasn't much, a basket of bread and fresh apples. "I'm so sorry" she gushed, avoiding my eye contact. "I wasn't looking, the rain-"

I smiled, a motion my face was not accustomed to. Feeling the muscles in my face ache in my efforts, I picked up a stray apple and offered it to her. "What is your name?" I had asked her.

"It does not matter, sir" she muttered, her eyes still cast to the floor.

It mattered to me, for some unknown reason she mattered to me. I needed to know, her beauty so compelling, I lifted her chin so that I could see her face properly. Willing her to look at me for the first time. She flinched initially at my touch, clearly no man had ever treated her right.

I swelled in anger at the thought of her ill treatment, at the awful life she must lead, knowing she deserved better just by looking at her.

Her eyes flickered open, revealing a set of vivid green pair of eyes, almost too bright in colour too be real."What is your name?" I asked again, my voice barely audible over the torrential rain that drenched us."Selene" she whispered back, her eyes never leaving mine. "My name is Selene"

Her name rolled off my tongue effortlessly, echoing in my head "Selene" I purred. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever mer" I watched as her grew red, blushing at my compliment. "Tell me, Selene, do you belong to someone?" She shook her head. "Good, because you do now" I told her., pulling her into my embrace "You are mine... and you will live have a very good life"

She looked up at me with ridicule, as if I was mocking her. "You have only just met me" she gasped when she stared at my face, realising that I am not one to jest. "You do not even know me" she added.

"I shall have the rest of my life to get to know you, if you are willing to give me a chance to give you a much better, happier life?" My eyes pleaded with her, for me it was love at first sight. It was almost as if she had cast a spell on me, for I was never one to be this spontaneous, to admit my emotions like this.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

I nodded frantically, bringing my lips down upon hers. "I am very sure that I want to make you my wife"

A sudden knock at the door snapped me out of my memory. The smile that brightened up her face that day lingered in my mind. She appeared from behind the door, looking just as beautiful now, as she did back then.

"Christopher, darling, they are waiting for you" she spoke softly, as she sauntered over to me, her dress rustling with every step as she drew closer.

Selene stood perfectly poised, half into the study, her evening dress she had been keeping a secret was now revealed to me. A deep emerald that hugged her figure and complimented her copper-coloured hair. Looking every bit the part of the Mayor's wife. My wife.

No longer looking looking like the shell, the ghost, of whom she had been all those years before. She was elegant, graceful, looking as though she had belonged in this life, never in a million years would you believe that I had found her on the streets

"Darling, are you ok?" She asked, her hand greatly reaching out to my face, her other hand flitted on her stomach, it was a small, slight, gentle gesture of protectiveness. "Darling. we need to discuss-"

I held up my hand, silencing her, I was not going to discuss her adultery, before the start of the gala. I didn't particularly want to discuss her sordid affair at all, an affair with someone subservient to her status, that resulted in her pregnancy.

It sickened me that a child was growing inside of her from another man's seed, the necessity to pretend that this was my own to prevent the scandal from leaking to the public, to the press. This would tarnish my campaign, my own reputation.

Everyone would question my ability of running as mayor; how could I control public affairs, if I had no control over my own wife?

"We will Selene" I composed myself, " but later. As you said, darling, it is best not to keep them waiting."

***

POV - Unknown:

I have been around for a long time.

It has been too long to know exactly how many years, centuries, millennia that I have wondered this Earth.

Choosing to live amongst the humans, to be a parasite, to become a part of them. Invading a small fraction within their unconsciousness as a way to control them, as a way to manipulate their surroundings, to manipulate their fate to my will.

To humans the thought of immortality may be appealing, but it soon grew tiresome, lonely, monotonous. Unable to experience life unless through them,

Never before has any of the humans realised that I was there before. Never had any of them channelled my power, my strength, my emotions. Until her. Alice.

The descendant of my first ever human vessel.

My chosen vessel.

Alice was by far the strongest vessel I've ever had.

She could pull my own memories from my subconscious; snippets from previous vessel's lives, something that none before her had ever done.

She could harness my strength and use my power from a very young h age, with ease and with accuracy as if they were her own.

It was worrying, terrifying even to know that she seemed to be controlling me, using me, rather than the other way around.

I had a feeling things could end badly; end in a way not exactly we is had planned.

If I had known to the extent that using her as my vessel would cause, I would have seriously contemplated remaining a spectre without a physical body until the end of time.

***