I do not own anything related to Damien or The Omen series, either thru television, written books, or film. Everything belongs to David Seltzer and A&E. I do own all the created characters. I do not own any songs, or literature mentioned. They are included to enhance the written words. Please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 1

Song(s): Sister Awake (The Tea Party), Running Up That Hill (Placebo)

Damascus, Syria…

Unscrewing the cap off her stainless steel S'well water bottle, twenty-two-year-old Canadian Kate Lewin downed a large gulp before wiping the excess that had fallen onto her chin. The sun had been beating down since six that morning and by noon, the temperature had already surpassed thirty-two degrees celsius.

Wiping the back of her hand against her forehead, she felt light fingers against her wrist as she looked up into the eyes of her good friend.

"The market will be a good place to take pictures of the mother's selling to buy food for their children" Abeela spoke as she adjusted her red headscarf to cover a flyaway.

Rising to her feet, Kate slapped her hat back on her head and gave a smile.

"Then let's go."

Tucking the protective lens cap into her messenger bag, Kate held up her camera and clicked off a serious of shots.

Tucked in between the Citadel and the Omayyad Mosque, she had visited the Souq al-Hamidiyyeh market on a previous trip two years past and it held a special place for her ever since she had met sixteen-year-old Abeela Al-Muhammed tending a stall of spices and hand woven scarves to support her mother, blind father, and two younger brothers living in an encampment.

Taking in a deep breath, Kate took in the burning of chili, turmeric, and pepper as she leaned in close and took a gooey date from a little boy sitting on a wooden stool.

"Sukran gazilan."

Smiling at the boy as she popped the date in her mouth, she held up her camera and snapped his picture as he turned around and hid behind his mother.

"You are always hiding behind the camera" Abeela's mother scolded as she shooed her son away to play.

"I prefer the beauty of others" she replied, aiming her camera at the older woman who waved her hand away.

It would be best for you to never have your face in circulation the voice in her head spoke as she pursed her lips, letting the weight of the camera fall around her neck and feeling Abeela's hand closing around her own.

"I wish you would wear more color, you wear dirty boots for boys and no waradi, ahmar, or azraq" the young Syrian chided as Kate examined the short sleeves of her white crew neck t-shirt and her dark brown Blundstone boots.

"I've never been one for color. I'm too pale" she replied as Abeela tugged her towards another vender.

"Will you take more pictures?"

Nodding her head, Kate adjusted the brim of her hat as she changed the light settings of the Canyon.

"The pictures all go on the chip inside, so I won't ever run out of film" she spoke as she trained the camera on an array of small frying pans that hung loosely on a piece of plywood.

"You take my picture for American magazine" a voice at her elbow broke out as Abeela greeted the stranger with a hug.

Focusing the lens on the two girls, Kate snapped continuous shots just as Abeela's younger brother ran into between. She couldn't pick up the Arabic conversation between the siblings but she knew they were heading elsewhere as she screwed the lens cap back on.

"We must go home to begin dinner before the Adhan."

2 Hours Later…

Swallowing the last bit of her lamb, Kate took a small sip of water as eight-year-old Aashif seated beside her knocked his fingers against her knee.

"You have American coins?"

Reaching into her black shorts pocket, she withdrew three dimes and placed them in the boy's hand as he squirmed with delight.

"You remembered!" the boy chimed as Kate ruffled his hair.

"I always keep my promises" she smiled as she rose with Abeela and her mother to tidy up.

…

Feeling the warm evening air on her face as she stepped out onto the roof of the house, the young freelance Journalist closed her eyes and hummed.

She had arrived in the country a week earlier from a year in France after writing and photographing the attacks centralized in Paris and Saint-Denis and the office shooting at Charlie Hebdo and had expressed her gratitude to the family she had stayed with previous who welcomed her back with open arms.

Sitting cross legged on the edge of the roof, she pulled out her purple moleskine notebook to review her plans for tomorrow when a sudden heaviness in her chest made her gasp for breath. Tossing the book aside, she backed off the ledge and stood on her feet rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"Too much sun and not enough water" she whispered, reaching for her bottle.

I saw the woman,

drunk with the blood of the saints

and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled

With great amazement

Hearing the voice in her head, Kate grabbed her bag and began rummaging through for her pills. Grabbing the bottle of prescription loxapine, she popped one in her mouth and kept her eyes closed. The voices had been mostly dormant during her time in France but ever since she had stepped foot on Syrian soil, the voice had taken on a more persistent tone.

"Just breath girl, just breath" she whispered as the ancient call to prayer began to cry out over the entire city. Hearing the Adhan bellowing from the mosque, Kate shoved her pills back in her bag and folded her hands over her head, running her fingers through her loose brown shoulder length hair.

"So, beautiful"

Staring out over the edge of the roof, her eyes spanned over the skyline as she turned and stared hard to the south end of the city.

Now I saw Heaven open, and behold…

Clasping her hands together, the young woman fidgeted before feeling an overwhelming distaste in her mouth. Grabbing her water bottle, she greedily downed the rest of the liquid ignoring the drops that fell on her shirt as the wind picked up once more.

Go South, He is here…

"Stop stop stop...please…just….stop"

Throwing open her eyes, Kate slowly walked backwards and only stopped when her back made firm contact with the wall. Listening to the cries radiating out over the city, she found it too much as she roughly grabbed her bag and headed back into the stairwell.

She would go to bed early to prepare for her final day in the city but first, she needed a glass of water and her notebook.

Changing into her sweat pants and a clean t-shirt, she leaned her back against the wall and opened to the last page of her notebook. Tucking away the last photograph she had of her mother, Kate uncapped her pen and started to scribble.

Voice in head told me to go south.

The voice told me He is there.

Who is He?

…

Damascus (Christian Quarter of the Old City), Syria…

The Next Day…

Snapping a mother cradling her month-old son seated on a blue blanket, Kate kneeled down to get a better angle when she felt light fingers on her shoulder.

"We should go, there is talk President Bashar al-Assad's army is near" Abeela whispered as Kate rose to her feet.

Following the young girl through the crowds of people, her eyes darted around as a sudden pain began in her right temple.

"Wait…hold on" she breathed hard, moving towards the left of the crowd she found an alleyway where she leaned against a closed-door front.

He is near

Closing her eyes, she leaned her head against the door while trying to catch her breath.

He is near

Moving away from the door, the young journalist stumbled out into the crowd and nearly stumbled into a large fruit stand as she felt herself turning around to face the opposite direction. Hearing the shouts and the roar of heavy truck engines approaching from the all directions, Kate fumbled in her messenger bag and roughly pulled out her camera.

Capture this…CAPTURE THIS!

Hearing the voice screaming inside her head, Kate whipped her camera around and started clicking off shots as fast as she could. Spinning around in amongst the chaos of the shouting and uniform clad soldiers, she aimed her camera straight in front of her and instantly felt the breath leaving her body.

It was as if everything around her slowed down to a complete crawl as her eyes looked up from the lens and into the eyes of another holding a camera in exactly the same position.

She was photographing him, while he was aiming at her

Staring straight into his eyes, she heard the voice that had been with her everyday of her life ever since she could remember…

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed

Hearing the piercing scream of a rocket sounding from the blue sky above, she threw her hands over her ears as the camera hung hazardly around her neck. She could not drown out the blood curdling cries that fell all around her and as she opened her eyes, she felt an incredible heaviness in her chest as her eyes burned with sand, fumes, and debris.

The man was no longer in her distant view.

Turning around, Kate tried to survey the wreck of stalls that had collapsed around her when she heard someone calling out.

"KATE, KATE!"

Squinting her green eyes to try and make sense of the cry and the shape running towards her, she felt an intense heat against her face as she was suddenly knocked by strong hands out of the path of a frantic man covered in fire.

Watching two men holding blankets running after the flamed man, Kate felt hands on her arm as she stared into the eyes of Abeela.

"WE MUST GO, NOW!"

Feeling herself being tugged out of the street, she searched the crowd anxiously for the man she had spied through the lens of her camera.

He might be dead she thought as the voice spoke out while she allowed her friend to half drag her away from the shattered market.

Here is wisdom

Ripping her arm out of Abeela's grip, Kate spun around just as the threatening calls of armed soldiers in Arabic rang in her her ears.

"Please, we have to go" Abeela begged as Kate watched a solider grab a woman by the hair and toss her aside like a bag of trash.

"HEY! HEY ASSHOLE!"

Screaming at the top of her lungs, Kate watched as the solider turned around before she raised up her camera and snapped a series of frames of his face.

Training his rifle on her face, she was knocked down hard to the dirt ground as he pulled the trigger. Feeling a heavy body collapsing onto her, Kate heard another round of shots as she raised her eyes to see the solider collapse in an awkward heap on the ground. Pushing the body off her back, Kate rolled onto her knees and froze.

That headscarf…

"Abeela? ABEELA!"

Grabbing the front of the bloody girl's shirt, Kate violently shook her before stumbling to her feet and dragging her into the mouth of an alleyway.

"Okay…okay…open your eyes…" she whispered, touching Abeela's closed eyes with her thumbs.

Hearing the shouts and rounds of gunfire around her, Kate ripped her water bottle out of her bag and splashed water on the young girl's eyes before throwing her head up to the sound of shuffling footsteps coming her way.

Feeling her mouth drop open, she watched as Asdhil Mustafi, Abeela's blind father walk perfectly straight down the alley with no hesitation, guidance, or problem. Placing her hand on the side of Abeela's cheek, Kate nearly tumbled backwards as the young girl suddenly shot up straight to sit and grabbed both of Kate's hands.

"You will be tempted. He runs deep in your blood. You must keep running."

Staring into Abeela's brown eyes, Kate sat back on her heels and watched as the girl's father laid a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Closing her eyes, Abeela went limp as Asdhil bent down and picked her up in his arms. Focusing his cloudy eyes on her face, Kate watched as he nodded his head before turning around and disappearing out of the alley.

"I need to get out of here" she whispered to herself as she stuffed her bottle back in her bag before slapping the camera lens back on her device. Moving to the mouth of the alley, she watched the crowd and soldiers as she ducked out and turned north.

…

"This is your Captain speaking, we will be landing at LaGuardia Airport in less than one hour. We ask that you remain seated for the duration."

Opening her eyes, Kate pulled out her ear buds and shoved them into her jacket pocket before reaching down for her messenger bag that was wedged between her Blundstone boots. Pulling out her camera her eyes caught the dried dark spots that littered the cuff edge of her jeans and as she touched the spots, she watched the dried flakes scrap off and onto the floor of the airplane.

Abeela's blood.

Sitting back against the uncomfortable seat, she closed her eyes and remembered back to the market the day before…

Her smile had always brightened up any situation. So full of life and adventure.

"You must keep running"

"Running from what?" she whispered, keeping her eyes closed as the passenger seated next to her gave a confused look.

….

Thank you to everyone for subscribing and following!

P.S. I will be aiming to update this story the 2nd of every month while I write my Hannibal fanfic. (fingers crossed x) so stay tuned!