Blood Halo: Comic!Miguel O'Hara x OC Imagine

Dante's Cave

   Oh, Selene... How naive you're...You should let the more complex tasks for the world's greatest brain like everyone else..! You simply don't think... You're automatically looking for trouble... Gosh, I cannot wait until this partnership is over and I don't have to force things work to look at Selene's face anymore.
   I stop the car by Dante's place, it's an old and poor apartment complex named " Mariana ", that makes sense for a historian, old. I see Selene walking down the road. I open the car window and say sarcastically:
   - What a pleasant surprise...
   - I can't say the same... - she says annoyed as she comes closer to the door - but since you're here as well, it looks like Dante will have 2 unexpected visitors at 3 in the morning.
   - Yeah... - I mumble as I get out of the car, lock it, and come closer to her. Next is just awkward silence. Oh shock...
   - Selene..? - I hear a voice behind me, we both turn behind and it's a short person with ligth-yellowish skin, eyes like cat's, a colorful kimono, black short hair, weird iridescent glasses and 2 bags: one full of kittens and the other with a few packages inside.
   - Nabeshima..! - Selene says with an awkward smile - what are you doing here at this time in the morning?
   - Going back home - they responds - how about you and... - they looks at me - your friend-
   - The name is Miguel - I interrupt.
   - We're looking for a guy named Dante - Selene replies.
   - Dante Goya Santos, right..? - they asks, Selene nods in response - I was going to see him now..! What a coincidence... Come on. - they enters the apartment complex, and we follow them. We walk upstairs through the dark building.
   - Are you and Dante neighbors..? - Dubois asks.
   - Yep - Nabeshima responds - I always have to buy things for him, since that wannabe batman doesn't go out of that cave he calls home... Why do you guys want to see him in the first place?
   - Knowledge - I respond.
   - You'll have to pay - they responds - usually silver or money, but gay sex counts if you are desperate - Selene looks at me with a naughty smirk on her face. Gabi would love this type of payment. His love life has been going from bad to worse.
   - I have money, Selene - I look at her annoyed.
   - You're the only man here, so... - she says still with that smirk.
   Before I could respond, Nabeshima stops by the 666th apartment on the 13th floor and unlocks the door. We walk inside, it's dirty, dark and empty, it just has a weird machine with a keyboard and a weird old clock on a desk and an old bookshelf. Nabeshima moves the pointy things on the clock to 3 and almost 6, then the bookshelf moves to the side, reveling an old grid.
   - What the shock..?! - I mumble.
   - A secret passage..! - Selene says with a smile.
   - Hold this for me, Selene - Nabeshima gives Selene the bag full of cats and opens the grids like a door, reveling an old elevator - come on.
   We three enter the elevator, Nabeshima closes the grid door, touches some buttons on the elevator's wall and we get down. Gosh, awkward elevator silence. Selene seems to be enjoying the kittens, petting them. She's smiling softly, and her eyes are waning moon-shaped when she smiles... Bloody moon eyes...
   - Do you like cats, Selene..? - Nabeshima asks, trying to break the ice.
   - Yep - she responds - I have a pet cat as well. Its name is Meowy, I'll show you some pics later..!
   - I would love to..! - they say with a smile.
   Then the elevator stops on another grid door, Nabeshima opens it and we e ter in what looks like a very old small library. It looks like a horror movie.
   - Hey, Dante! You have visitors and I bought your stuff! - Nabeshima shouts as they walks to a round table near a wall with a rounded sofa behind it and puts the other bag on the table and grabs the cat bag from Selene's arms.
   - Don't tell me you bring your cats as well! - a husky voice echoes though the room so as the sound of metal taping on the ground - toda vez isso... puta que pariu!
   - What..? - I mumble.
   - You're really grumpy today, did Flamengo lost again? - they asks.
   - Quite the opposite - the voice responds, seems much closer to us now - they won the last game, 3 to 1 against Corinthians in the quarterfinals of Brasileirão, but you always try to ruin my mood.
   - You're welcome - they responds sarcastically as they enters the dark corridors.
   Then someone emerges from the darkness: It's a man around his 50s with black kinda curly hair, one brown kinda redish eye and the other is white. His skin is quite darker then mine, he walks with woden crutches with metal tips, his clothes are quite formal but yet old, his social shirt a bit open and he has one of those one-eyed glasses. He looks like he just walked out of a museum.
   - Oh, visitors..! - he mumbles - as you probably noticed, I'm Dante Goya Santos, call me only Dante, it's a pleasure to meet you. You are..?
   - Selene Dubois - she responds.
   - Miguel O’Hara - I replie.
   - Hello, Miss. Selene and Mr. Miguel - he says - why are you both here?
   - We're looking for information about demons, specifically Baal - Selene answers.
   - Oh, the Lord of Thunders - he mumbles - I can check that, make yourself comfortable - he points to the table.
   We both sit down on the table, there are a few papers with drawings on the table with things written in another language. I use the translation tool on the lens. The things written in question are some critics to some sort of oppressive government and forbidden love poems for someone named Frank Yakel. Forbidden love and political oppression, it would be a great novel.
   - Here, some pão de queijo and coffee - Dante comes, putting two cups of coffee on the table and a bowl with some small yellow bread thing - wanna sugar..?
   - No, thank you - Selene says, taking a sip of her coffee.
   - No - I mumble.
   - Are you Brazilian by any chance, Dante? - Selene asks.
   - Yep - he responds, picking a yellow bread and biting it - from São João del Rei, Minas Gerais especially. Have you ever been there?
   - No, the only Brazilian place I've been was the Island of Itaparica - she responds.
   - Oh, Bahia - he says.
   - Exatamente - she says in another language. I haven't expected Selene to know more than one language.
   - Parece que alguém aprendeu com a viagem, seu português é muito bom - he says with a smile and she smiles back, I'll keep the translation on to understand their conversations, I can get something useful.
   - My friend teached me, Maria Felipa de Oliveira, you probably have heard of her - Selene says in portuguese as I read the translation.
   - Oh, yes, I've - Dante responds in portuguese - her and her comrades really deserve more appreciation in the Brazilian history, they actually did something for the people, freedom and independence... Your friend and hers were truly heroines...
   - Yep - she mumbles with a smile. Now I notice that Selene has big fangs as well, but unlike mine, hers are so delicate, mine are horrendous. But this is taking way to long.
   - So... - I interrupt - what about the demon thing? I came here for the information.
   - Oh, right - he says, going back to the darkness. Now it's just me and Selene in awkward silence. Gosh... I'm starting to wonder: When did Maria live? Since they said she fought for the Independence of quite of an old country. I searched for it on the watch, and it's... 1822... How old is she..?! No human being could be 300 years and look this young..!
   - Selene... When did you meet your friend Maria..? - I ask.
   - A long ago - she responds.
   - In years - I specify.
   - I was very young at the time - she replies, she seems much more tense.
   - And how old are you now..? - I question.
   - 27... - the redhead answers, taking a sip of her coffee, shaking. She's obviously lying.
   - You look pretty young for a 300 year old - I say taking a sip of my coffee, it's bitter than the one that I usually drink, I like the taste but it hurts my teeth... Selene splits her coffee and looks at me with wide eyes - is there anything I should know about your nature, Selene..?
   - N-no... - she stutters.
   - Are you sure..? - I ask, looking deep in her eyes, she has nowhere to run, she'll tell me - What are you, Selene?
   - I-I... - she stutters, slowly getting away from me. You will tell me...
   - Selene, can you help me with something? - Nabeshima shouts from the other side of the room.
   - O-ok! - Selene shouts back and runs out of where she was before. She's hiding something, and I'll find out.
   I get up and go though the corridor Dante was last seen to distract myself, there are a lot of books on the shelves in other languages, and they seem very old. This darkness is quite comfortable. I find Dante on the end of the corridor with a small cart of books looking though the shelves.
   - Hey, Mr. Miguel, do you need anything? - he asks distract with the books.
   - Just walking... - I respond - Dante, have you seen someone that could live more than 300 years without aging much..?
   - What type of question is that? - he laughs, he has big fangs as well... - we're all like this, I thought you were smarter...
   - How old are you and that Nabeshima..? - I question.
   - I'm like what, 361 and Nabeshima is 300, I think - he answers as my eyes wide - why..?
   - Just wondering... - I respond, trying not to make my surprise visible. How..? How? How?! HOW? HOW?!
   I walk out of there and sit down on the table to think. What are these people? How didn't I know about them before? How do they live so long and look so young? Are they some sort of aliens, mutants, experiments, super-solders for some big corporation or they take some sort of anti-aging serum? Selene looks like she's 25, Nabeshima looks like they's in their early 20's, and Dante looks like he's in his 40-50's! How is this even possible?! Gosh... My mind is freaking exploding right now...
   I feel something against my leg, I look down the table and it's one of Nabeshima's kitties. I hold it in my hands. It's too small and white with light blue eyes. Next, I see Nabeshima coming:
   - Miruku..! There he's...
   - How many cats does they have..? - I mumble.
   - 30 - they responds taking the cat out of my hands and holding it, my eyes wide - these ones that you saw are the youngest.
   - How do manage to have so many cats? - I ask surprise.
   - I have my tricks - they replies winking. They's the 300 year old incarnation of the crazy old cat person.
   - I told you not to bring your cats to my house! - Dante comes from the corridor and hits the cart on Nabeshima softly, their eyes wide, and they get out of the way - cacete...
   - You should thank me, or else you would be depressed and hungry - they says with cockyness. He sighs.
   - Where is Miss. Selene, by the way? - he asks. She runned way in fear, what a coward.
   - She's in the kitchen, calming down - Nabeshima explains - she was almost panicking and didn't say why.
   - Oh... - he mumbles, then looks at the table with the papers cover with splitted coffee - who did split coffee on my papers?! Vô quebrar o arrombado que fez isso na muletada!
   - It was Selene... - I mumble.
   He walks to the darkness and comes back after a while with Selene... Everything seems so much tense between me and her right now as we stare at each other. This mystery aroud her is so captivating and intriguing... She was right, darkness is really seductive yet frightening... Like their unknown nature...
   - Why does this look like a funeral? - Nabeshima mumbles.
   - Shut up..! - Dante mumbles back and hits their knee with one of the crutches.
   - Dante... - Selene mumbles, looking at him - do you have the books..?
   - Oh, sure..! - he says as he grabs a big old book on the cart and gives it to Selene.
   - I've heard of this book, " Daemonum Malleus "... - she mumbles.
   - Your Latin is great, by the way - he says, she smiles - you can take this home for one week, but you'll have to pay now.
   - How much..? - I asks nervously.
   - 60 dollars or 70 gramms or silver, any damage to the book will be charged - he says - and no, I don't accept that other type of payment... - he looks at Nabeshima annoyed, they gives him a silly smile. They has big fangs too...
   - I'm trying to help! - they objects - since Frank's death, you didn't even walk out the house..!
   - I don't want his memory to die... - he looks to the wall, there're a bunch of paintings of a guy with light redish-brown skin, flame-shaped dark brown eyes, very long straight black hair and a pair of pointy glasses, the colors of the paintings go from warmer to cooler as they seem to be more recent - you wouldn't understand...
   The guy from the poems was his lover..? Makes sense...
   - Frank..? - Selene mumbles.
   - He was my husband... - Dante responds melancholicly.
   - About the book, is it enough for our case? - I ask trying to break this heavy aura.
   - I'm sure it is - Dante responds still sad - you can check more informations here later...
   - Ok - I mumble.
   - I'll pay - she offers - is there any weighing-machine so I can measure the weight?
   - Here - he takes the papers off the table and click in a small circle in the middle of it, a bigger hole opens where the small circle was and an old weighing-machine comes out of it. Ow...
   Selene pays for the book with silver and we get out of Dante's house. Now she will tell me everything.