The Fall of the Adrasteian Supreme
I have only slipped away into the next room
It started with a trickle. It wasn’t the kind of trickle that would leave you with a sense of relief at the end, at least not to the prying eyes that stood there as they witnessed the end of a life, a life that had been cursed with the most of unfortunate strings of events. It was never easy to reign completely a Coven of witches, witches that looked up at her with a glint of hope in their eyes as they stared back, believing wholehearted that she would be the one to change their outcome and protect them no matter the cause, leading her to make a pact with the demon from her early Supreme days. Her soul being the only thing he asked for and as awful as it sounded, Esme took the deal and sealed her own death warrant.
This was just another of those insistences. She used the remainder of her powers to protect the living members of her Adrasteian sisters. The city was in ruins, between Gatsby – the Bellona Supreme – and unspoken new threats Soteria had reached its limit, no longer fit as a haven but now served as Hell. Esmeralda watched in horror as everyone around her fell, victims to these threats and even the strongest witches and allies were no challenge. It was one of her darkest hours, unable to do anything useful. But there was hope. One trickle of hope left. Esme didn’t hesitate to muster any bit of strength she had left to cast a spell strong enough to create a powerful barrier to keep everyone that still held air in their lungs and a beating heart knowing what this meant for her own life but it didn’t matter because she knew that this was her only card left and if given the chance she would do it over again because it was just the kind of person that she was.
Rot now followed, the grim reaper slowly digging its nails deeper into her core with each morning she awoke, weaker and more disoriented though Esme always did her best to hide it from everyone, even her husband at the time who grew more distant for reasons still unknown to her but she knew it would only be a matter of time before he gave up on her just as the rest of them. There was only one person that was able to smell the death in her whom questioned it immediately, Draven. The first intense love and hate was reserved for the Hellhound that couldn’t bare the sight of her yet again slipping through his grasp, promised to yet another man that would never love her the way he loved her. He kept her company those few last days, never questioning or giving her a ‘no’ for an answer though he felt obligated to treat her with delicacy, she knew deep down that there was nothing else he would rather be doing than being there for her through it all. Never knowing just how close she was to the edge.
Esme never did tell anyone that her soul had been marked, always thinking that she had more time but now she found herself in the grasps of this very demon. The room was arranged just as any ordinary living room, a black sectional covered the back wall where a huge clock set in the center. A series of photographs spread evenly along the wall, photos of a family; two girls, a mother and a father and they all seemed so happy with their even smiles. The hardwood flooring still held its beauty though it carried many years of abuse with dragged marks from tiny wheels rolling on the wood and now the home was filled with laughter from the past. The red curtains draped with odd patterns, none which she could interrupt then and sure as hell not now but her mother loved them so everyone just let them continue to hang. Esme’s childhood home, where she was birthed and raised. It was the home that held many good memories. Though after the death of her family Esme couldn’t bear spending another minute in that home which had lost the coziness, the safety she held as she walked each room in bare feet had vanished so one day she locked the door behind her and never looked back. One of the hardest things she had ever had to do but torturing herself with memories of them would have been the death of her.
Milo stood with her, he had promised that everything would be okay now, that him and Davide had struck another deal and as much as she wanted to believe that it was true, something felt so very wrong. Her instincts had spiked and she couldn’t shake that feeling.
“What deal have you and Davide agreed with?” She asked Milo, there was no muse in her words as she did her best to hide the fear brewing inside of her.
“Don’t worry about that babe, he won’t be hurting you anymore.” Milo replied with confidence in his tone, never a moment where his words quivered with doubt and it was one thing that Esme absolutely loved about this man. Always optimistic and looking at the bright things in life.
Esme reached out for him, resting her weak hands on either side of his cheeks that were covered in the gruff of beautiful blonde hair. “Pl-Please tell me that you haven’t offered your soul,” her voice broke, a deep sorrow in her heart as she spoke those words. “I won’t allow that.” Her eyes held a shine, glistened from the tears that had built up, clouding her vision and the only way to make them go away was to blink and let them fall but a blink would mean that she would miss a fraction of a second as she watched Milo and it was something that she didn’t want to do.
“I promise that wasn’t the deal, he won’t be taking my soul.” He stood straighter as his eyes flickered to the side for a moment as he replied and then back at Esme. She knew him enough to know that he was hiding something because he never had it in him to look her in the eye when he couldn’t allow himself to tell her a lie, when he was holding information.
In the background Davide set on the sectional, arms spread out and making himself quite the cozy Demon. The crooked smile that curved his lips held a menace to them, eyes full of hate yet amused by the conversation that he was allowing for them to carry on. A woman stood to his left, hands entwined behind her back and watching the couple from across the room. Her eyes never blinked and her plain expression never changed, never moved except the movement of her chest as she took in breaths. Esme had never seen her but by the looks of it she knew that this woman was important to Davide otherwise he wouldn’t be conducting business with anyone by his side, perhaps he grew wary of Esme and her unstable fire? No, Davide lacked the ability to fear anyone, that much was clear.
“Enough.” Davide spoke out, his voice roared and the room felt its tremble but it took a moment for Esme to realize that it was her that trembled. Though she hated to admit it, Davide terrified her because he was the only one that held her life on the balance at this exact moment, he could completely wipe her from the face of the earth and take her soul to Hell with a snap of his fingers. Anyone that wasn’t afraid of that had no sense of death and the unknown, lucky them.
He raised to his feet and for the very first time since their arrival the brunette beauty next to him moved, now standing behind him but her expression still potently piercing. There was an odd feeling radiating from her and not the kind to make anyone curious but the kind of feeling that would make just about anyone coward in a corner. Even as weak as Esme was at this exact instant she knew the nameless woman wasn’t anyone she would want to go up against, it would be suicidal to do so.
“You’re deal has been accepted.” When he spoke he only directed to Milo, Esme at this point was completely invisible to the Demon. “Esme will be healed, completely.”
A sigh of relieve left Milo’s lips, there were no words left in Esme to know how she felt just now. Milo took Esme in his arms, wrapping her and holding her tightly against his body as his devilish smile became more angelic. He had found a way to save her even when it wasn’t his responsibility, he managed to surprise her once more and all she could do was hold him back and let those pesky tears have their way as they left a streak of wetness behind.
“I told you that I would save you babe.” He said as he kissed the top of her head.
Esme was still speechless and the only thing she could manage was sob and in-between tears whisper a ‘I love you’.
“I ask that you step away from her now.” The unknown woman finally spoke. If the feeling being around her wasn’t odd enough, her voice brought chills to Esme, the most eerie of tones but if she would be aiding Davide in the healing of her, Esme wouldn’t question what the hell she was. Davide stood in his spot, arms rested against his chest as he crossed them and gave the woman a nod to continue.
Milo had a puzzled expression on his face but Esme nodded at him, letting him know that it would be okay to do as she asked and so without question he moved further. The woman made her way towards Esme and when she was close enough she reached into her own black suit jacket and removed a small bag; the contents weren’t exposed and this made Esme wary.
“What is that?” Esme asked with a furrow of her brow, backing away from the woman some.
“It’s your life line, sweetheart.” Sweetheart was said with a hiss, definitely no good feeling behind it, not really meaning it. “Now stay still so that I can cure you from this rotting.”
Esme nodded, no words needed for exchange. She didn’t move when the woman got even closer to her, close enough to be able to smell the soft perfume that lingered on her skin. Close enough to smell her breath yet nothing there to actually smell. Close enough to see the wrinkles that formed at each side of the woman’s eyes; swirls of a light shade of brown but they held no true life to them. A witch forced to bid the Demon’s work, that much Esme suspected. The woman poured the contents of the bag in her hand, black powder but there was a sparkle to the dust and Esme couldn’t stop staring at it as she was further struck into curiosity. The woman brought the hand to her lips and blew, the particles reaching Esme’s nostrils and with each breath she took the sweeter and intoxicating the smell became. And before Esme knew it her back was against the wall as she felt the waves of the dust coursing through her, a euphoric sensation washing over her. Her body was gaining its strength, the strength she remembered and had before she casted the spell that condemned her. Quickly she noticed that she didn’t feel as tired as she was just a few moments ago, her skin smooth as her body gained a fuller appeal. Her body didn’t hurt anymore, all the pain had vanished and if she wasn’t so enticed on the changes happening in her body she would jump in the air from the excitement.
“There.” The woman spoke again. “You’re all healed up.”
And so, Esme was. She felt alive. And it should’ve been one of the happiest moments of her life, she was healed and it meant that she could continue her life with Milo but she wasn’t so lucky. The Adrasteian Supreme was never lucky enough to have one thing go as planned, her life was full of unpredictable outcomes and this event wasn’t any different then those in her past.
With a wave of Davide’s hand, Milo was pinned to the wall and Esme snapped her head in horror as she watched. The need to fight grew strong but her body wasn’t moving and though she was screaming on the inside her mouth made no attempt to move and vocalize her horror, her pain.
Then it was her turn to be pinned against the wall, her head hitting the wall and bouncing off. It started with a trickle. It wasn’t the kind of trickle that you would hope for, it was the trickle of her hot blood escaping through the crack in her skull. Esme felt disoriented but not enough to forget that Davide and this woman had betrayed them and as much as she wanted to fight back, she couldn’t, her body completely immobilized.
How terrible to know this would be the end of your life and literally not being able to move, not even make a fucking peep!
Would it be painless? She thought to herself.
No. That was a stupid question. The woman reached her hand into the pit of Esme’s chest, tore through flesh and bone as if it were nothing, just like reaching inside a bag as her hands began to seek something. The pain was one of the worst feelings in the world that Esme had ever endured, physical pain anyway. The hand on the clock began to slow down, the ticking of the clock loud in her ears. Her breathing loud and the beating of her heart pulsed hard enough to pound from her chest to her head and it nauseated her. She wanted to make it all stop; the pounding was making her dizzy but it wasn’t truly the pounding that was making her feel sick. It was the woman as she found what she was searching for. She held Esme’s heart in her small hands, they were cold, so very cold. Esme’s body was growing colder as the woman squeezed her heart, tighter and tighter.
The look on the woman’s face was horrifying, she was enjoying this, the killing of another being but Esme didn’t want to go out with that image in her mind. It would haunt her to the afterlife if she allowed herself to only look at her just a second longer. So, her eyes roamed, searching for Milo. When they landed on him they glued themselves to him, wanting to take in every bit of him but it wasn’t until she saw the excruciating pain in his eyes that the gravity of hit her, she would die today but he would live on hating himself knowing that he trusted a Demon that shouldn’t had been trusted to begin with. That he really believed that he was saving her only to have it snatched from him in mere seconds from achieving it. The tears in her eyes welled and stung as they escaped knowing that she wouldn’t be able to save him from this experience.
Esme’s vision was distorting, darkening as they began to make their fade. Her body colder than she ever had been. It was this moment that she came to acceptance and that perhaps dying wouldn’t be such a bad thing, maybe she would be reunited with her family.
In that split second, she heard everything. Milo’s pleas, Davide’s snarl at Milo’s begging and the beating of her heart that was no longer in her chest as it was meant to be.
3…2…1… and a gasp escaped between her lips…
Esme is one of my precious beans, she has done a lot of suffering and this was her final scene as the person who she used to be. It was an extremely emotional piece because not only do I love her, but she was the first character I ever created.
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