+1+
“What’s with this place anyway?”
The automatic doors close behind me and I turn to face the private table that is propped up on a small platform. Even up here The Spindle, The Metronome Hotel's top floor dining room, featured the same blue-violet lights and quiet blood pumping music.
Look guys it’s the hotel from Vice !
The dining room featured a neat row of tabletops, along the side were a dozen private tables hidden behind long black curtains and sliding glass doors. The private rooms were discreet, there was button at the side of the table that indicated to the waitstaff when they could and could not disturb the parties.
“The Metronome has a long service of providing discretion”, Sera answers adding a silver chair she had taken from another table, "Perfect for secrets.
Yeah, look at that Sera bring a seat to the table for non cis-het men! I actually have no idea why she does this. Like I know it was deliberate… like maybe when they planned the meeting they wanted her to stand ? But she made the reservation so she would make sure they had enough chairs, right ?
For some reason I kept expecting to see Helios over my shoulder. I just kept expecting her to double cross me. Especially after the disagreement we had at Helios' Birthday.
Yes, so the fight they have is that Paris doesn’t like that this is “just sex” for her.
“Discreet how?”, I ask.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, dear Prince”, she says.
Like Cartels in a cyberpunk future. You tell me. Also I kept hinting at other supernatural characters.
“Hmm”, I check the sliding doors to make sure they are closed, then I place my arms low around her waist, “I love it when speak Shakespeare to me.”
As I’ve said a billion times while writing this post, New Aeterna-verse is actually an alternate Bellum III. As a result ALL of this is cannon in New Aeterna-verse so this lightness is missing from Sera/Paris’s marriage after everything Helios and his regime put them through
A part of me wants to test just how good The Metronome Hotel is at keeping secrets.
Yeah, no …they do it in public in another chapter…
She was dressed in black as a show of comradery with the Brotherhood. Unfortunately the tight black jeans and black leather top that showed off all of her midriff making it very difficult for me to concentrate at the moment. I run my hands over her bare stomach and wide V shaped muscles at her hips.
Is this a good outfit? Is the leather top too much? I think I was inspired by this picture WEHEARIT
She relaxes a bit and tilts her forehead down to me, her eyelids are dusted in a dark blue eyeshadow. I move her hair back and kiss her, and even though the table is curtained off I get a buzz realizing this is as close as I've gotten to kissing her in public.
“Good?” I inquire.
This is written in present tense which is interesting. I hardly ever do that except in Sincerely,Emile where it was intentional…huh. I mean I guess Bellum I is actually a flashback so this does make since…
She moves to sit on the table to find a more comfortable angle. This no good. Every time I was close to her like this my mind started to wonder to a future we could never have. This is just, physical. Just simple endorphins just feeling good.
I never realized until I re-read this just how head over heels Paris is over Seraphina. In New Aeterna it’s different because Paris doesn’t recognize Seraphina after she has been imprisoned and he mostly marries her because he knows she will protect him.
I know this isn't good for her either. She know how this is for me, she knows I am in love with her. I don’t say this, At least not with words. I just think it when I look into her eyes, when I hold a door open for her or when I tell her she’s beautiful.
I jump back when I hear the sliding doors swoosh open, the curtains pull back and I'm expecting to see a waitress. Instead Jona walks in looking bleary-eyed at me with a raised eyebrow. I struggle to seem impassive. Sera doesn’t even move from where she is still sitting on the table.
…you know I’m not sure her sitting on the table makes it easier for them to make out???
“Really?” Jona says, "Is this still going on."
“Just--ah--drop it”, I finish.
“You know”, he says, “At the rate you're going you're probably going to spill your own little secret.”
“Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”
"You are lucky you are my Brother. That's the only reason I'm not selling you out. You have no idea how hard it is for me. It's fucking disgusting--"
"Jona, you're so-"
"Drop it", Seraphina says to both of us. And for some reason we do. I make a point of handing Sera her jacket, which is unusually heavy.
So first of all I really regret not writing Jona, Paris’ brother, into New Aeterna. If you recall he turns on Paris in the last chapter of Bellum II and tells Helios about Seraphina betraying him; which leads to Helios’ men assaulting her and Helios almost beating her to death before Leon distracts Helios and frees her.
If I had been more confident in my New Aeterna idea part of the conflict would have been Paris’ brother being on Helios’ side. However as it stands Jona is dead in NA.
Also I change the way I spelled his name. I shall fix it in my edits.
“Right”, says Jona looking at Sera “I hope you are ready to impress me with more than your ability to French kiss my brother.”
She gets up from the table and grabs a leather folio from the booth and holds it out towards him. Her still and stoic expression never falters.
“Oh”, he says flipping through, “A press release... for SGI. This is really helpful.” He's mocking her.
I glare at Jona. Its obvious Callum is rubbing off on him.
Remember Callum in this? He is a side character who really hates Seraphina but by the end they have each other’s respect because they are so similar. They are both very intense and athletic. In New Aeterna they are partners (A role Leon takes), workout buddies and have threesomes/foursomes together. This is because in New Aeterna Callum is floored when he sees someone he hated (but secretly respected) having been tortured. So when Sera joins the resistance he helps get her back into fighting shape.
“It’s a dossier on SGI. It’s what Helios gives his clients. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Helios and SGI members. He has profiles, auxiliary inventory, skills, and experience. Know thy enemy and all.” she explains.
Seraphina talks a lot in this chapter. She is a very quiet and introverted character so she talks as little as possible.
The doors swoosh open again and Ashe’s cane swipes through the entrance and Damien follows. Callum is last lifting Lysander's wheelchair onto the platform. Callum eyes are so fierce I’m a little afraid. He hadn't been this close to Seraphina since she'd stabbed him for attacking Helios.
At this point Paris only has a select group of his Brothers who he trust to know that Seraphina is a mole.
These few were the only ones who knew I was doing something . . . that I had a plan. Telling too many people about our inside line could be dangerous. It would just take one man turning on us to ruin this entire operation.
Kind of like it took just one woman to break down Helios’ operation.
Oh, for this next part remember that one of the first things that happens is Helios sets bombs off at the Brother’s tailor shops and Lysander is wounded.
I’m too busy watching Callum’s every move that I don’t even notice Lysander has wheeled in front of Sera’s chair. She doesn’t hesitate to look him in the eyes. His arm is still in a sling and the right side of his face is still swollen and puckered.
“Lysander”, I warn him.
“Did you do this?” Lysander asks turning his wheel chair, “Did you help Helios do this to me ? Did you help Helios blow up our stores and kill all those people? People who did nothing. Humans.”
“I-I”. She stutters for barley a second which is fascinating in itself, “I did not try to stop him and for that I will be forever--”
Ugh, I think I initially wrote Seraphina not using contractions. I should know better. I did this with Fierro to. Just a way to make serious unknowable characters more eccentric.
“Guilty”, Lysander finished, “Those lives will always be on your hands. People died just so Helios could send a message. Did you see that? Did you sleep well in his arms after that?”
She looks at him, her lips in a solid line.
“I had my reasons for following Helios. I have seen the error of my ways.” she looked down, ”I will tell you everything I know, do what I can to wash myself of that massacre.”
“Your hands will never be clean”, Lysander snaps at her, "And I'll always be marked by it."
…man I feel so bad for killing Lysander off in New Aetenra, but guys New Aeterna was six chapters and Paris being the last of a handful of his kind is part of his backstory. I think Damien and Callum are the only ones who make it because it was easier to keep them alive because they didn’t have a strong connection to Paris so I didn’t have to build a relationship.
"Ares. . .” she starts, "Ares was the one who dragged your body away from the fire. He swung for it. He was good . . . just so you know."
Muse: But why is Ares alive in your AU
Lils: IDK, I needed someone for Leon to play off of. I just liked Ares.
“Alright, sweetheart”, Callum says mockingly breaking up the moment between them, “Talk. Tell us everything”
--
She starts with Helios life back in Homeland as a young foot solider in the Seraph Guard. How he used his natural charm and elegance to work his way up. How Helios lead the way to making SGI in to reality. How he turned his men into obedient war mongers for profit.
I mean this is what Helios has told Seraphina, but Leon knows the real details…which he will never share.
“It seems obvious to me.”, Callum spoke up, and “We get rid of Helios. They are nothing without him. Like us and Father”
I ignore the insult.
“Impossible”, Sera said, “SGI is organized, his closest men are his loyal successors. Two Alphas two betas. Then four others. You would have to kill half a dozen until you got to one we could trust.
Callum flinches when she says we.
“Who are they? Callums asks
“Leon is his Alpha. Titus is his Beta. He doesn't have a second Beta anymore. He said he didn’t see
The need."
Read ….I didn’t feel like writing anymore characters.
“You said there were two Alphas?”
“The other is me, though I’m wise enough to know I am also ornamental.” her eyes cut to me at that.
Oh, this is a call back to another chapter where he calls her ornamental.
“So then what do you suggest”, Ashe whispers. Even though he doesn’t look in her direction
“I am here to offer information not to solve your problems”
I let out a breath, give her a look that means “play nice.” She doesn't catch it. She can't read my breaths not like—
Isobel. Paris can’t figure out why he can’t be satisfied with a nice girl like Isobel. I’ll tell you why…she was a red herring. That’s why.
“I”, I started, “I don’t like this killing business. We need to cut Helios off. He can’t do anything without his guns, men or money.”
“What if”, offers Ashe, “You take out Helios and this Leon guy? That’d leave you in charge, right?”
“Titus and the others would never let that stand”, Sera replies, “I’d be dead in seconds.”
Callum smiled and leans in. He apparently likes that idea.
Sera and Callum hate each other so much.
“Let’s start with getting rid of his weapons. He keeps them in his cars right?” Callum moves on.
“Yes”, she answers
“Rig the cars to explode. Just like you did the shops. That will send message and if Helios' not armed . . . he can't retaliate...”
She grits her teeth but relaxes.
She doesn’t like him giving her orders.
"Fine."
“Make sure no one get hurts when you destroy the cars”, I remind her.
“Remember”, Callum says, “Loyalty isn’t just earned around here.”
This is repeated in Bellum II when Callum forces Sera to get a Lux Aeterna insignia burned onto her back.
He smirks at me. How many times had I said that line to Dante.
“Consider it done”, she says.
Callum smirks at himself and it doesn't even register when the door swooshes open. A tall, thickly broad man with lights eyes and close cropped hair surveys the scene.
I…use the word “swoosh” so much
The man has a gun and the entire table eases back. Or should I say this Angel has a gun. Callum stands but I motion for him to stand down.
Callum is a protector. This is another thing he and Sera have in common.
“We want no trouble, Brother” I say. I say to this Angel which might as well be an insult.
At that, he turns the barrel of a gun at me. I back down, Self-preservation is funny like that. He moves the gun from my face and follows the barrel until it lands on Sera.
Ironic Echo coming soon.
“Titus was right”, the man said, “I always knew there was something wrong with you. Knew you were up to something."
“Don't be reckless, Faust.” her voice is calm.
Hmm, Faust …as in Faustian bargain…as in deal with the devil. Why would an Angel be named Faust? I think because this was originally supposed to be Leon????
“Did Helios send you?” I interject
"Helios, is too blind to send me. Titus sent me.", Faust says.
Ugh, Abelist language in front of a blind man
"So", she says, "Helios has no idea you're here."
The man lunges forward and the others dive out the way. If any of the diners on the other side of the doors and curtain notice a disturbance, they do nothing.
“Seraphina", Faust says, "Helios is going to ring your pretty little neck for this--”
Seraphina reaches for his hand and he grunts following the loud crack of his wrist, his gun clatters to the ground, before he can even register that she has broken his wrist. He goes to hold his wrist and she forces him down--back to the table, Callum grabs his shoulders to keep him down. In seconds a knife is dug so deep into his heart that he is pinned to the table, each beat of his heart causing him to bleed out. Then she twist it.
He’s dead instantly.
Okay, this scene is a bit unrealistic but Sera is like really really strong guys.
Seraphina watches his eyes intently for the moment as the life blinks out of him. Callum slowly lets go. Whatever he was expecting her to do it wasn't that.
I wrote this waaaay before the show Killing Eve and this “looking into the eyes of your victim” is something Jodie Comer’s character does. She is a good inspy for Seraphina but she is too young.
“No”, I started, “No, no no. Sera you didn’t---”
“He would have reported back to Titus and then Helios, we can’t have that--.”
“You killed him, Sera. You just took his life.” The words feel thick and wrong in my mouth.
“Wake up, Paris. It would be death for
all of us if Helios knew about this. We've only just begun. It had to be done.”
“You cannot go around killing people, Sera. I won't have it. What the hell is
the matter with you--”
“You're dead without me”, she say towering over me, the bloody knife still in her hand, "I’m all you have right now, and I won’t be hanged by Helios because of one man. I won’t, so I did what I had to."
Self-preservation is funny like that.
Oh, Ironic Echo
Also I’m such trash. I was SOOOOO proud of this line that I named the post after it.
She sits the body up, Damien is trying to stop the bleeding, I'm sure The Spindle is discrete but they may object to dead bodies being dragged through their dining room.
Seraphina turns to Lysander.
“I’ll need your wheelchair.”
+++
The meeting is cut short as Damien and Seraphina disappear with the dead Angel Faust slumped in Lysander’s wheel chair , Seraphina’s shades over his eyes. My jacket over his fatal stab wound.
Oh, guys so… in Bellum III Seraphina kills Titus and she takes his shades because she lost hers here. I did a lot of object work in this serial where an item would pass between characters.
“Found it “, Callum said leafing through the packet he had been given, “I found her.”
He sets down a headshot with chilling blue eyes on a beautiful face.
I flipped it over.
Seraphina Grigori, 31
Height: 6’4
Weight: 140
Status: A
Count: 21
Then in Helios’s handwriting
"30” 27” 36"
Manic, anti-social, borderline personality disorder
Then in Helios’s scrawling handwriting:
My perfect lady
So this is where I revealed a bit into Sera’s personality and her Estimated Human Age. I liked the idea of her being older than Paris but if I could re-do it I would make 7-10 years older instead of 4.
+++
“This is good. She’s on our side.", I say reading Helios’s assessment of her.
“That could have been one of us”, Jona said looking at the photo of her, “She could have stabbed one of us through the fucking heart. 21, brother. She killed fucking 21 people for Helios in less than a year.”
So, yeah…Sera is real bad.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That Angel could have ruined everything. I don’t like it, you know I don’t. . .but maybe it was a necessary evil.”
“What does she want ?”,Callum says, “She is going to want something when this is over.”
Sera wants to leave New York City. That’s what she wants. Notably in New Aeterna (mostly because she was kidnapped and tortured by the government) she no long wants that.
Everyone gets silent when they hear the click of her boots, She smells like antiseptic and soap. Damien follows behind with gin a martini. Without a word Seraphina finds her jacket and heads for the stairs.
I put like zero thought into what they did with the body. You know in New Aeterna I was going to have this whole thing about how Sera works at a butcher shop so she can sharpen her skills to disaaeble human bodies….fun times.
I can feel the others glares when I turn my back and follow her. I feel Jona's glare the most. I don't say a word until we exit the dining room and start down the spiral stair case to the elevators
“That can’t happen again”, I say, “If Helios thinks we are killing his men, he won't like it.”
My mind ponders what the hell she and Damien did with the body. We stay silent in the elevator and I don't know why I'm still following her. Once outside I realize I need to say something . . . anything.
I follow behind for one block, deciding I can't leave things like this.
“So”, I start, “Look I. . .
My voice trails off when she stops in front of a white motorcycle, sliding smoothly onto it, and sitting up to pin up her hair. Not at all noticing the questionable expression on my face.
“I knew it”, I said, “Helios put you up to this whole thing didn’t he? He’s paying you to seduce me and act all my teenage fantasies to use against me later.”
She pauses and thinks for a moment. I hoped she knew I was joking. . . Kind of.
“Motorcycles where invented after you were an adolescence.”
“Well--okay, that one is a new fantasy.”
Paris is so whipped.
“I don’t know if I can keep this up, Sera. I keep thinking you have some endgame with me.”
“Now, you don't trust me ?’, she realized.
“You say you don’t care about me, fine. But, There are millions of bachelors and bachelorettes who would be more than happy to indulge you. Why me ? Do you have thing for short men with small cocks ?".
“Must you be so hard on yourself”, she says , “You’re a nice man, Paris. Hmeju though so well of you. Is it wrong to want to be in the company of a nice man.” She tilts to the side to kiss me. “Let me take you home.”
Sera has this idealized version of Paris in her head but she also like the real him to because he’s a smart, funny, witty and cute.
“Ah, no. Everyone's opinion of you seems to be mixed at the moment. I think it's best I'm not seen alone with you. ”
“In that case”, she says, “Let's not be seen”
Okay so this is where the “Missing Scene” would maybe go ?
+2+
Oh, here is that Big Lipped Alligator section I wrote where Paris and Sera are having a shared dream about their Homeland. Like I’ve figured out I wrote this because I wanted to try high fantasy and it’s an allegory for their story. But also it could have been cut out.
The cloud creature screams and a bolt of lighting makes the night temporarily day. The Angel faces the creature head on in the middle of the road. The smoke spherical shaped thing barrels towards her at a remarkable speed.
The cloud creature is Helios and his dark vision for his regime New Aeterna
I jolt out of my haze and rush towards The Angel, using all my strength to shove her out of the path as the creature rolls over where she was just standing.
The cloud creature undulates on the edge of the town, almost like it is peering down over the cliff. The wind and rain beat against the awning we are under, threatening it to break. I hope. I pray that the creature will tumble off the cliff and kill itself.
“We need to go”, I say
“We kill the beast”, she her voice sings,
It had been the deal I
made. I had said killing this creature could be good for both our Kingdoms.
When I said that I was expecting some one-eyed giant or a rabid animal, but
this creature was other worldly. It was like a living breathing storm.
It’s an Allegory for Helios’ power ?
The contained storm moves turns, then rolls towards us. The Angel towers over me, flinging her wings open to block the blow of the creatures coming to consume us. I keep my eyes open, watching her serene eyes closed in anticipation. It's a peaceful final image.
She slowly turns in her clockwork way, and with her wings withdrawn I see a wall of clouds just centimeter from us. The creature waits on the edge of the paved road as if there is a thin force field around us. It’s so close I can almost touch it. It see us, it knows we are there but for some reason it does not gather us up.
See this Angel is protecting the Demon from the wrath of the storm, like Sera (who I always saw as a proetector) will sacrifice herself to protect Paris from Helios.
I look up and see a decorative torch glows above me. It's a marble cup with a flame encased in a glass orb. I look to see the the other decorative torches lining the street had been destroys by the wind and rain.
“The light”, I realize, “It can’t stand the light.”
I reach up and remove the glass orb from the marble cup and hold it out to the creature, the creature ebbs away and screeches at me. Suddenly angry, the cloud grumbles and shoots out the Angel's arrow it had swallowed. I let out at grunt as the arrow sails into my side. The Angel is swift and catches the glass orb before it can break.She breaks the arrow, but thinks better of pulling it out of my side.
She turns her back to me and kneels down, prompting me to climb on her back. She wants to try and fly away. She holds up the glass orb, as if that little flame could protect us.
She looks at my wound again and puts the glass orb in my hands, the heat from the flame stings my palms. Her eyes are set and I realize there is no other way. If we wait until morning I might bleed out. I climb on, my side burns in pain from the wound.
I hold onto the the glass orb like it's life itself. I brace myself as she soars through the monster. The little flame does keep us safe. Inside the creature it smells like sulfur and rain. Parts of the creature break open when it senses the flame.
The creature is still chasing us so the
Angel dives straight down. Rain beats across my face and my wet hands
lose their purchase. I fall from her, she reaches for my hands but is to late.
I scream while free falling towards the forest below.
Again really pushing
the allegory of the Angel protecting the demon who is holding the light that
can vanquish the darkness. She literally carries the burden of him while he
has the light of hope.
+3+
I bolt upright and feel the wind fly out of me. I’m breathing so hard it hurts. I can't get my grasp.
Laying back down I realize my hands are tied to my bed. I turn my body to the empty space in my bed. It still feels cold. I can hear shuffling in Father’s office. My office. The double doors are swung open and from my vantage I see a flash of bronze hair.
"Um, forget something ?", I whisper.
I hear pages flipping and some more shuffling coming from the office.
“What are you doing ?”, I whisper louder.
Seraphina steps into view, running her hand along the spines of Father’s old journals, carefully she slips one back on the shelf and opens another.
“Reading”, she says scanning the journal.
She closes the office door, holding on to the journal. She climbs on the bed straddling me, raised on her knees. She's dressed but the button on her jeans is undone, the low rise makes it obvious she's wasn't wearing --
“He never spoke of me? Hemju. He never spoke of me to you ?”
“Uh, no. . . but you know he was busy. Did he uh--speak of me.”
She fixes the button, it still doesn't help my concentration.
“Yes, almost entirely. The young prince. The surviving prince. He once wrote an epic poem about you. Can I keep this ?”, She holds up the journal.
“Of course. You can also untie me. I really like this tie."
"Get yourself out", she says. She isn't flirting with me. She's serious.
She leans down so her lips are almost touching mine, my hands instantly want to pull her down, but are tightly confined to my head board I try stretching to reach her but she moves back.
She gets off the bed and finds her jacket and helmet. I twist my wrist the best I can, but the tie is holding. I try to find the knot with my fingers. Something gives.
“I’ll send you a message when it’s done. The cars.” She clarifies.
There it was with perfect execution. The change. The change from almost friends to just plain allies. The switch from pleasure to business.
“Jona can help. He’s good at explosives.”, Something slips and the tie falls loose.
“I’ll manage ”, she says.
She heads out and I race to grab her arm.
“Wait. . . I”
She shrugs me off.
"I want you to come to Boston with me, Sera."
It seems to mean nothing to her, then she remembers why I was going to Boston in the first place. And the second reason.
"Are you--"
"I'm not going to propose to you. Hell, no. . . you must want a reprieve from Helios. I don't know I just don't want to go alone and I--"
She seems caught off guard, but doesn't say no. . . . Or yes. She kisses me good bye again. Always again. For some reason
the first good-bye kiss never stuck.
I feel like Paris thinks about this a lot when he and Seraphina are separated in New Aetera. I also feel like maybe he knew she wasn’t dead in New Aeterna because they had the same shared dream again. Look at me making connections.
"You're so quiet.” I still have a hand on her wrist and whisper, "Oh, speak bright Angel."
Okay, I stole this whole thing from Rome + Juliet. Just all of it
She turns at my last words and after some thoughts kisses my cheek.
“What was that?” I say and her expression softens , "Speak again bright angel.”
She kisses the side of my scar just an inch away from my lips.
“I didn’t catch that, perhaps louder this time.”
Finally, she kisses my lips and opens her mouth. I slide off her jacket and take her keys, pulling her away from the door.
“Bright angel, I think we need to have a longer conversation"