CHAPTER 33
SUPREME BITCH

"WHAT'S going on?"

Coraline's question came out through heavy pants. She raced down the hall with Michael, hand in hand, as Ms. Mead followed close behind. The walls around her were becoming a blur; the candle lights looked like she was passing by orange smoke. Coraline swallowed hard as everything felt like it was caving in. Something was wrong – very wrong. This couldn't be happening, whatever it was. Not when she finally got what she wanted.

"There's a powerful presence," Michael answered, beginning to slow his pace. Straightening his jacket, he resumed his normal behavior, his expression growing cold.

Coraline shook her head, tugging on his hand as they came to a halt. Ms. Mead stopped short behind. "Everyone's dead, Michael."

He looked over his shoulder, pulling on their laced hands to guide her forward again. "Not anymore."

Their pace down the stairs was slow, causing nerves to bubble up in Coraline's stomach. She realized what Michael had been feeling then. It was a force she had never noticed before, winding down the halls and filling her nostrils with a scent of sweet sage. Voices echoed across the hall as the stairs curled downward. Some sounded familiar; others were foreign, but they were all female.

"I'm not here to defeat anyone," a strangely recognizable voice seethed.

Coraline felt the oxygen leave her body when they stopped fast at the end of the stairs. Seven figures turned at their presence, some looking more powerful than the others. A tall woman with honey-colored hair stood at the head, walking forward to the staircase with a confident look in her eyes. She was accompanied by another younger blonde and an older woman with frizzy, orange locks. Coraline's eyes went wide when they connected with Mallory's – she was alive and well, along with Dinah and Coco. How were they alive? Did they come back from the dead?

The scent of sage should've answered all her questions.

Michael cautiously hid Coraline behind him, but that wasn't enough for her. She wrapped her hand around his arm, allowing the bond to seal them together, and peeking her eyes from over his broad shoulder.

"How can any of you defeat me," he sneered, "when I've already won?"

The tall blonde stepped forward, knitting her dark brows together. "You haven't won."

Michael chuckled, "Perhaps you haven't noticed the state of the world."

"It's almost as bad as your dinner jacket," the frizzy-haired ginger boasted, "but at least the world can be saved."

Coraline raised a brow at that comment.

"By you?" Michael continued to tease.

"By all of us," the head blonde replied.

Coraline pulled on his jacket, pointing a finger in the direction of the women before them. "Um – care to explain who they are?"

"We're witches, bitch," the young blonde scoffed, stepping forward with her hands on her hips. "And you're little boyfriend is about to be toasted by the Supreme."

Coraline wasn't surprised in the slightest. Most things didn't surprise her anymore. If she was truly the False Prophet bound to the Antichrist, who was she to be skeptical at the presence of witches? She could only assume the tall blonde at the head of the coven was the Supreme, meaning she must be the most powerful out of all. This is yet another instance she wished her visions would warn her about, but maybe these witches were powerful enough to block her third eye.

"Hey, just an FYI –" Coco rubbed at her forehead and stomped to stand beside the Supreme. "Just don't let me die again, okay? That really sucked the first time."

The Supreme silenced her with a wave of her hand, but Michael was quick to reply, "When I'm done, you'll all wish you were still dead. You're not touching any of us." His chin lifted, staring down at the witches as Coraline's grip on him became tighter. "The seventh seal has been broken. The bond of the Unholy Trinity has been made. Wormwood has fallen from the sky and turned the rivers to blood and fire. The bottomless pit has been opened and my swarms of locusts and scorpions have ravaged humanity. The world will be remade in my Father's image."

The witches laughed, and the orange-haired elder opened her mouth once again. Coraline was beginning to get tired of her terrible jokes. If she had the same powers as Michael, she would've snapped her neck already.

"Darling, it seems Daddy didn't tell you the most important rule of bringing on the Apocalypse," she mocked, red lips twitching into a grin. "If you want to finish the job, the thing you have to do first is get rid of all the witches."

"I could annihilate all of you in a second and the world would go on without missing a beat," Michael scorned, voice lowering into a dark tone. "You and all of your work will be forgotten in the rubble of the past."

He stepped forward then, one foot nearing the edge of a step. Coraline's arm slipped away, but his hand still caused her to stay close. She raised a brow, wondering what his exact plan was. "But I want to give you a future. Fall to your knees and accept me as your lord and savior, and I will bring you to the table as my obedient subjects."

Coraline's brow shot up. The Supreme only snickered, hardly moving an inch.

"Imbeciles!" Ms. Mead bellowed. "Fall to your knees before the king! Hail Satan!"

"Ms. Mead," Coraline seethed, turning her head in the woman's direction, "stop provoking –"

Footsteps entered the hall again. It sounded like heels clicking against the floorboards, and a flash of bright blonde hair glowed under the light of the candles. A tight, black dress clung to her skinny, yet muscular frame, as well as a beautiful cloak covered in midnight glitter. Her eyes were still big and the most vivid blue Coraline had ever seen, lashes forever long and curled to perfection. Coraline stepped forward upon recognizing the grin lifting on her pink lips, and watched as the blonde stood beside her Supreme, one manicured hand on her hip.

"She's right, you know. Provoking won't do anything." Amalia Beaumont spoke harshly to Ms. Mead, smiling from ear to ear. She then spun to face her old friend, expression softening for a moment. "Hi, Coraline."

Coraline instinctively stepped forward, crossing in front of Michael, who stared between the two girls with confusion. She almost didn't want to believe it: Amalia Beaumont survived the fallout and was a witch too.

"Amalia?" The name came out as a hiss from Coraline's mouth, but she felt nothing but shock. The blonde girl wanted to hug her old friend, to hold her in her arms and feel like they were young again. They were both reminded of high school, and Amalia would never forget the day Coraline let her in; the day they really became friends. Both had never felt more happy to see the other after the Apocalypse.

"Coraline," Michael whispered, causing the brunette to look over her shoulder. "Don't get too close. If you two know each other, the witches might be using her to kill you."

She shook her head, refusing to believe that notion. "Amalia would never do that."

"And how do you know that, Miss Avery?" The Supreme's voice called out, and Coraline's blood turned cold. She turned to the older woman, brow furrowing in confusion.

Amalia's stare narrowed towards her Supreme. This isn't what they planned. "I would never hurt Coraline. She's an old friend."

The Supreme eyed her younger student for a long moment, chewing on her bottom lip. Amalia raised a brow and hoped her teacher wasn't going against the plan she promised. Cordelia vowed to shed no blood on Coraline Avery, but when Amalia looked to her Supreme, her stomach churned with worry.

"Well," the Supreme scoffed, turning back to the three standing on the stairs. "We will not be sitting with you anytime soon, Michael Langdon. The only way we would sit at your table is if your decapitated head were the centerpiece."

Coco's brow knitted as Mallory finally stood beside her, but the two still seemed shocked at this new reality before them. "I should've known you were the one fucking Langdon this whole time, Coraline," Coco frowned, pointing a finger in the brunette's direction. "I wasn't shocked when Gallant told us the news. I always knew there was a reason why you didn't belong." She nodded towards her fellow witches. "This is what happens when Jesus hates you. You become evil."

Coraline's hands formed into fists. "Shut up, Coco," she seethed through clenched teeth. "You have never known me and you never fucking will –"

"Cordelia," Dinah called, moving to stand near the Supreme. "You raised me from the dead so that you would have the power of voodoo on your side. But if you know anything about who I am, you know that the only choice I'd pick –" Dinah slowly began to walk towards Michael on the staircase "– would be the winner."

Coraline tilted her head to the side as Michael took another step forward, just to be closer to her, in case something bad happened. "Dinah is a voodoo queen?" Coraline raised a brow in Michael's direction. "Go figure, I guess."

"You're only half right, Dinah," Cordelia replied.

More footsteps entered the hall, and in walked a dark-skinned woman with beautiful braids and flowing garments. Beads shook from across her chest, and her red lips were upturned in a vicious grin. The way she strode screamed power – more powerful than Dinah could ever be.

"She needed the help of a powerful voodoo queen," the woman spoke proudly, "but that ain't you, sis."

Dinah was frozen in place, unsure how to answer. Both Michael and Coraline shared a look. Leaning her mouth to his ear, she whispered, "I think they might kill each other before you do."

"To release me from hell, Cordelia promised Papa Legba the darkest and most corrupt voodoo queen's soul for mine." The woman continued, inching forward to spit in Dinah's face. "You'll serve him well in my place."

"You're a fool, Marie Laveau," Dinah scoffed. "You would have done no different if you were queen."

Marie only chuckled, and within a split second, her entire form dissipated. It then reappeared in thin air, right behind Dinah, with an axe tightly gripped in her hand. Dinah spun quickly, but it was too late. Marie hacked the axe right into Dinah's throat. Blood spat out of Dinah's neck like a fountain. She fell to the ground and screamed out in pain, but the sounds of torture were over within seconds.

"Out with the trash," Marie chuckled. "Give Papa my regards."

Michael waved his hand, a signal for Ms. Mead to act. Coraline's head whipped in the older woman's direction as she popped off her mechanical hand, revealing a machine gun built underneath. The brunette's eyes grew wide and she stepped back with hesitation, but Michael's own arm kept her behind him.

Cordelia muttered a few words under her breath – words Coraline could barely understand, but she knew they couldn't be good. Amalia was looking at her Supreme with suspicion, which suddenly made Coraline very scared.

Ms. Mead began to scream. Coraline's head almost spun around a full one eighty degrees as she witnessed the woman's whole body convulsing. Her arms hung loosely in the arm, her mouth opened in an O shape. Her eyes were pointed towards the ceiling. It looked like her system was completely shutting down.

Michael reached out to place a hand on her arm. "Ms. Mead?"

And then the blast came.

Ms. Mead exploded into smithereens. Michael and Coraline were sent backward, flying through the air and off the stairs. Various pieces of Ms. Mead landed on the ground in different directions. The floorboards were coated with a sticky, white liquid, probably from the inside of her service board. Her head expelled the white goo, and it rolled right next to Michael.

Coraline thought she blacked out for a mere moment. Everything seemed dark, but then her eyes opened again. Particles of dust flew across her vision. A few screws landed in her lap. She blinked her eyes a few times and rubbed the back of her head. Reaching out to her left, she felt Michael's hand and squeezed it tightly. He was looking at Ms. Mead's severed head, running his other hand down her cheek. Coraline wanted to call out to him, tell him that something could be done – anything. They could figure it out together. But then he looked at her, sitting up and noticing the blood running down her nose, and all the anger he had tried to suppress before came running out.

Michael stood, fury blazing in his stare, as he helped Coraline to her feet. He turned on his heel at the same time the young blonde witch scurried across the floor. She grabbed Ms. Mead's detached arm – specifically, the one with the machine gun. Amalia knew what was going to happen, and she couldn't stop it. She slipped as she tried to get up, screaming, "Madison, no!"

"Sorry about your little toy," Madison huffed, cocking back the gun, "bitch."

Coraline's arm snaked around Michael's. At that moment, she thought she saw an angel calling out to her. She knew then that she was going to die.

Madison didn't hesitate on firing her weapon, even as Amalia begged her to stop. Several bullets rang through the air. Coraline's ears popped before one even reached her chest. The first bullet hurt the most, piercing the middle of her stomach. Every other one became less painful than the next. She almost got numb to it as her spine hit the wall behind her. The floor became slippery. It was covered in blood – her blood. She fell to the floor, skull hitting the hardwood.

"NO!" Amalia shrieked, trying to push past the witches surrounding her. Cordelia held her arms back. "You promised not to hurt Coraline Avery. You promised me that you wouldn't hurt my friend." Amalia finally yanked her arms away from the Supreme, stomping forward in her heels and whipping her hand across Madison's cheek. "YOU BITCH!"

Through hazy eyes, Coraline turned her head to see Michael laying upright. Blood poured from his chest, mixing with her own on the ground. Her hair was soaked in crimson; her whole body was weak and sticky. Coraline tried her best to inhale, but her breaths were shaky. Michael's right hand laid in a pool of dark red. She tried her best to stretch out her arm, even with the bullet lodged through the skin of her forearm.

The last thing Coraline felt was her fingers brushing over his palm before she died.

END OF ACT II

•••

A/N: But wait!!!! There is still an epilogue!!!!!!!!

AMALIA THE (UNOFFICIAL BUT WE KNOW THE REAL TRUTH) SUPREME IS BACK BITCHEZZZZZ

And this was???? So sad to write??????? Not only because all we have left is the gODDAMN EPILOGUE, but like omg I don't want my kiddos to be hurt 🤧🤧🤧 Why in the FUCK am I so attached to the Antichrist and his gf!!! I need help!!!!!

So yes,,,,,all that's left is the epilogue 😭 These are some real Depression Hours™️, but I PROMISE the ending is different!!! You shall see!!!!!