Chapter 17: If You Want Peace, Prepare for War
Selene's POV

"Who the hell are you?" I questioned, pointing my Beretta at the stranger's head.

"I'm pretty sure you're aware of Azazel," the arachnophile said calmly.

"How-?"

"My spiders transmit your blood memories towards me," he said. "I see your daughter is still kicking, forming a resistance against us. I am one of Azazel's minions: Abaddon."

"Enough with these rehearsed speeches," I said. "What do you want?"

"A chance for you and your resistance to surrender peacefully," Abaddon said. "A chance to bear witness to the new world we will create."

"Aurora would never surrender to the likes of you."

"Tell me, are you willing to trust a dying, unhinged woman? Or is it because she is family, even though you are from different timelines?"

"Just shut up," I said as I pulled the trigger. Abaddon easily dodged the bullet and sped towards me, kicking the gun out of my hand. He attempted to punch me in the face, but I blocked it and countered, my mechanical fist hitting him hard in the temple.

Abaddon flinched back, his head bleeding for a brief second before the wound healed. "Do you know why you fight?" he asked, remaining calm. "Why you want to protect those worthless mortals?"

"Not all of them are worthless," I said as I pulled out my red dagger.

"They are incompatible with our revolution," Abaddon said.

"These are innocent people you plan to slaughter!" I shouted. "What the fuck are you trying to gain for all of this?"

"A chance for peace," Abaddon said. He brandished his dagger. "Si vis pacem, para bellum."

Both of us clashed daggers. Like Aurora, Abaddon was restrained in his movements, like a musician focusing more on the intricacies of his technique. I was the blunt punk-rocker, overreaching multiple times.

Abaddon landed a shallow cut to the left side of my torso, and I dashed back. The cut burned hotter than the sun ever did.

"Look at what's become of Viktor's favorite vampire," Abaddon said.

"Fuck you," I rasped. I rushed towards Abaddon, swinging at him with enough force to force Abaddon's dagger out of his hand. I then stabbed him in the chest and drove him to a wall.

Abaddon did not look phased at all and laughed. I batted an eye before three spiders burst out of his abdomen, latching onto me and burrowing their fangs into my neck, upper left leg, and my left arm. I grabbed each one of them and tossed it onto the wall. I grabbed my Beretta and shot its remains. "Fucking hell…"

I looked over to where Abaddon was at, but his body was missing. "Great…"

I tore open and drank from another blood bag, then reloaded my pistols. Goddammit, Mathieu, you need to fucking help me out here!

The lights started flickering as I slowly walked through the hallway. "Great, not this again."

Suddenly, my earpiece started screeching an extremely high-pitched noise in my ears. "What's the point in saving her?" Mathieu said through the static. "She's the fucking catalyst of all this shit!"

"Mathieu, what are you saying?" I shouted.

"You're right. Maybe Azazel's not the problem. Maybe she is," Aurora said.

"Aurora?" I clenched my fists to the point where my left palm started to bleed.

"I can't believe a monster like you birthed me," Eve said.

"This is not real," I shouted.

"My biggest regret," the thick voice of Viktor said, "was sparing your wretched life when I found you. I should have gutted you along with your family."

"Shut up," I gritted.

"You are not alone," Michael said.

My eyes widened.

I turned back and blocked a sneak attack from Abaddon. "All you need to do is surrender," Abaddon said. "Then this war will be over."

"I've had it with you," I shouted. I swung my blade, leaving a shallow mark on Abaddon's stomach.

"You would have been a fine warrior for Azazel's forces," Abaddon said. "Think about the safety of your family. The ideal world for them. After over six centuries of war, you can finally relax."

"With your reign in my conscious? Never!"

Abaddon kicked me through a wall.

And out of the building.

I grabbed the arm of a construction crane, which suddenly swung into the building. Glass and concrete rained all around, hitting my head and back while the shrapnel sliced into my neck, spine, and lungs. A piece of the third floor slammed into my hip, knocking me off the crane.

I fell face first, crushed under the weight of debris. As I took a slow breath, my lungs and throat felt like they were on fire. My vision was foggy, but I could make out two humanoid silhouettes approaching me.

"That's her!" a voice from one of the silhouettes shouted. Although I felt like my ears were underwater, I could tell that this was not the gruff British voice of Mathieu Walker. "That's the one that killed Dr. Lane!" Instead, as my vision cleared up, I saw two Antigen officers pointing their M8A1 assault rifles at me.

"Dammit," I whispered calmly. I had no weapons on me, and I could barely even grab a piece of debris to throw at them.

Suddenly, he and two other officers fell on all four limbs. They began screaming in ear-piercing agony as their skin began to steam before melting off.

Abaddon walked towards me as the officers fell dead onto the roughened concrete. "So dedicated, you are, to your daughter's cause," he said.

"She chose to dissent," I argued.

"And she is dying because of it," Abaddon rebutted.

"Hey, fuckhead." Suddenly, a fist appeared from behind Abaddon, punching him in the face and sending him into the wall.

Mathieu hurried towards me while Aurora leaped through the hole. "Let's get you out of here," he said as he removed the debris off me. "You're going to be alright." Mathieu sliced his wrist open.

I grabbed Mathieu's arm and began drinking his blood.

My eyes locked towards Aurora as she fought Abaddon, swinging her dagger approximately five strikes a second. It felt like Aurora was moving on fast-forward while literally everything else around her moved at a normal pace. Abaddon's smirk was replaced with fear.

Aurora tackled Abaddon to the ground. She grabbed both of his arms and ripped them off above the elbow.

"Azazel misses you," Abaddon said.

"What did you say?" Aurora asked.

"All these years, he thought you were dead," Abaddon replied. "He grew remorseful after his duel with you. He wants to heal your wounds."

Aurora lifted Abaddon's torso up and gnawed deep into his shoulder hard enough that she could have removed it.

I immediately understood what Abaddon said, and I knew how Aurora was going to react as she took in Abaddon's blood memories. "Oh, hell…" I whispered to myself.

Aurora screamed savagely as she began punching Abaddon in the face. Abaddon's head cracked like a watermelon as bone and tissue fragments scatter on the pavement.

"Aurora, stop!" Mathieu grabbed Aurora's wrist.

"Get off me!" she screamed as she elbowed Mathieu in the face.

"Fucking bitch!" Mathieu shouted, covering his nose.

Aurora continued punching where Abaddon's head used to be, even though at that point, she was punching the ground. Her voice-cracking screams were piercing; even as an immortal, I felt like she could permanently damage her voice.

"Aurora, he's dead! You can stop!" Mathieu shouted as he touched Aurora's shoulder. At that point, I expected her to blindly attack Mathieu. I slowly stood up, still fatigued from my injuries, preparing for another incident. Instead, Aurora stopped punching the ground.

Aurora breathed heavily as she looked at the remains of the enemy. She was covered in blood and tiny pieces of Abaddon's flesh and bones.

"Aurora, is it true?" I asked. "What Abaddon said?"

"Yes." As Aurora faced me, tears began to fall down her face. "Azazel, the one that's from my timeline, he followed me here." Her voice was shaken and gravely.

"Now there's two of him," I said as I looked down.

"You have no idea," Aurora said. "I don't know how long he's been here; I don't know how strong he's become ever since our fight. I don't even know if we're even prepared for him."

I reminded myself of everything that Abaddon said to me. "This has been a lot to take in…"

"This is Lucian to Aurora," Lucian's voice transmitted through our earpieces. "Dammit! Our coven is under attack!"

"Fuck!" I shouted, punching a wall. "Abaddon knew where our base is. It's all my fault!"

Aurora's head fell.

"We need to keep moving," Mathieu said.

"It's over, Mathieu," Aurora said. "Azazel can do anything and everything at this point."

"Look, I know the situation is extremely grim, but if we down, we'll do it with dignity. I don't want to wait for Azazel to defeat us like this."

Aurora stood up. "Well, I'm going to die soon anyways."

"Selene?"

"Before you intervened in my fight, Abaddon was extremely fixated on us," I said. "He was spurting out propaganda and trying to convince me to surrender to Azazel."

"So, you're going to side with that fucker?" Aurora shouted as she walked towards me.

"Aurora." Mathieu grabbed Aurora's shoulder, stopping her.

"I'm saying that Azazel wants us alive," I said. "I don't know why, but if we're the only cogs in his plan, his forces should have killed us right here, right now instead of attacking our coven. This gives us a window, even if it's a small one, to take him down."

"Smart thinking," Mathieu said.

"Six hundred years of fighting this war can do wonders," I said. "You're right. We have to move."