| The Magdalena Vol. 1 Issue 3 | |
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| Writer(s): |
Marcia Chen |
| Penciller(s): |
Joe Benitez |
| Inker(s): |
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| Colorist(s): |
Jonathan D. Smith |
| Letterer(s): |
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| Editor(s): |
Matt Hawkins |
| Cover by: |
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| Published: |
January 2001 |
Magdalena Vol. 1 Issue 3 is the third issue of the first Magdalena comic series volume published in 2000. This is the third and final part of Blood Divine story arc.
Synopsis
Part III In the stunning conclusion to the "Blood Divine" mini-series, the Magdalena is brought before the vampire queen for infiltrating the coven circle. There she discovers the true origin of the vampires and the motives behind the killer. Plus, Cardinal Innocent deals with the possible ramifications of Father Jasper's find and the true fate of the Magdalena is finally revealed!
Characters
- Rosalia
- Cardinal Innocent
- Cardinal Jasper
- Giselle
- Damon
- Michael
- Angele
- Henri
- Garduna
- Esmee
- Father Jean
- Colette
- Salome
- Arianne De La Croix
- Perfecti Vivienne
Plot Summary
After reading Mireille De La Croix's letter, Cardinal Innocent disregards it as nonsense and sends Father Jasper to meditate for a few weeks and asks him to call in his assistant. When the assistant comes in, Cardinal Innocent tells him to take the artifacts to Father Ramundo to verify their authenticity and proof that they're fake as is the letter.
Meanwhile, Rosalia wakes up in a mansion in Paris, surrounded by the vampires. She immediately questions why are the humans helping these monsters. One of the vampires, introduces himself as Damon and calms her down, showing that he's wearing a cross. These confuses Rosalia, but Damon quickly explains, that all of them are just ordinary humans, infected with a retrovirus, similar to HIV. Their leader, Michael, reveals that like all retroviruses it contains RNA and the reverse transcriptase enzyme allowing it to insert its own genetic codes into their cells.
This stops the body's natural ability to produce heme, a necessary component of the hemoglobin in red blood cells. Without it, oxygen can't be transported from the lungs to the rest of the body. The heme they need is extracted from the blood they must consume. The absorption process produces excessive amounts of energy, which allows our cells to regenerate extremely rapidly. Michael add, that although they need human blood to survive, they do not kill to get it. Rosalia, then points out, that there are four people dead, even though they claim do not kill humans. Michael says, that they were just accidents. Rosalia doesn't believe him.
Giselle then brings up, that they did nothing to her, yet Rosalia attacked them, based only on unfounded bias and superstitious folklore. She adds, that they're now forced to leave their home just because Michael doesn't think it's right to kill her, even though she was and will continue hunting them. Damon then steps in and explains, that three days ago, they found Angele, the local prostitute, lying in the alley behind the club, beaten up. She had a split lip, many cuts and bruises. They tried to help her, but she got scared and fought them. She bit one of them and drew blood. This got her infected with the virus as it transmitted through blood. Damon makes note, that Rosalia could herself already be infected, if any of their blood made contact with her wounds.
Damon then calmed the girl and brought her inside the club. As they suspected, Angele didn't wake up the next morning as she'd been infected with the virus and was in the comatose state following the infection. The virus is abnormally aggressive. Withing two hours of infection, the infected falls into a coma. After seventy-two hours, all the cells are re-coded. They left sleep in one of the rooms upstairs. But she woke up earlier than expected and ran off. Damon adds, that when you first wake up, the infected feels confused and disoriented, He can't remember who, or what he is. The infected operates solely on instinct,and the first thing instinct tells him is that he needs human blood. By the time, they found Angele, her damage was done. He reiterates, that this was an accident and they never hurt others to get blood as they have many friends who are willing donors.
Wanting to make sure, that Damon isn't lying to her, Rosalia puts her hands on Angele's head and reads her mind. She sees how Damon and his friend finds Angele and helps her, just like he claimed. Rosalia then sees, how Angele runs away from them. She stumbles through streets of Paris, eventually reaching the nightclub. Two prostitutes notice her and bring her to Henri, their pimp. As she is brought in to Henri, Angele recalls how he used and abused her for his own gain. Enraged, she attacks Henri and his henchman. Angele manages to slit henchman's throat and then jumps onto Henri to feed on his blood. After feeding, Angele goes to the abbey. Inside, she finds Father Jean, praying. She then recalls how he constantly molested her. Filled with fury, Angele attacks Father Jean and kills him. She then finds Colette hiding from her. Angele takes the girl and brings her back to her room. In return, Colette gives Angele her plushy toy.
After seeing all of this, Rosalia reassures all of them, that she won't tell the church where they're. Though others probably found their club. The Garduna then break into the house. Michael orders everyone to not hurt them and leave immediately. Rosalia tries to convince the Garduna, that they're just humans, infected with a virus and pose no threat to them. But then Giselle attacks the two warriors. As she draws her sword to kill them, Michael stops her. Giselle tries to convince him, that few dead mortals of a few stupid intolerant churches is nothing compared to the safety of their family. Michael still doesn't let her kill them and angry Giselle walks away. Before leaving, Michael offers Rosalia to join them as she might be infected too. Rosalia refuses the offer, believing that she can convince the Garduna and the church, that they're harmless. She adds, that being the Magdalena, they won't hurt her.
When the Garduna recover, Rosalia explains, that they're not vampires, but affected by a disease, that forces them to drink blood. They also don't kill humans. The Garduna refuse to believe Rosalia, believing her to be in league with the vampires. Seeing, that Garduna refuse to see reason, Rosalia attacks them. She pushes the two warriors, causing one of them to go over the railing of the balcony. A fight erupts. Although Rosalia doesn't want to hurt them, the warriors don't hold back and attack her with an intent to kill her. Rosalia manages to cut one of the warriors legs and dismember others arm. Again, Rosalia tells them to stop this foolishness and listen to reason. Then one of the Garduna sneaks up to Rosalia from behind and takes his knife to her throat. Rosalia tells him, that he can't kill her as she is Magdalena. The Garduna doesn't listen to her and slits her throat. He then tells Rosalia, that a seed has been harvested and a new Magdalena will replace her. He then proceeds to push her over railing to fall to her death.
Two days later in the Vatican, Cardinal Innocent got confirmation from Father Ramundo, that the artifacts and the letter were indeed authentic. Inside the letter, Mireille writes how Jesus was heir to the Davidic line, and thus the true king of Israel. His first and head disciple was his wife, Mary Magdalena, who was descended from Saul, the first king of Jews and heir to House of Benjamin. But Jesus was killed, and Mary buried the body with honor, telling others a tall tale of angels and resurrection. Mary then fled to Egypt, where she gave birth to her only child, a daughter Sarah, from whom the Magdalena's are descended.
Meanwhile, power hungry men decided to capitalize on the situation on Jesus popularity among the common folk. A twisted mockery of a church grew in power, allegedly following the teachings of Jesus. All mention of his female disciples were cut out. As the years passed and memories faded, they circulated unfounded rumors of Mary being a whore. Undoubtedly to discredit Magdalena's line in case they ever surfaced. Mireille believes there are some few in the church who know, or at least suspect, the truth. Thus they need to remain hidden from Rome, lest they seek to destroy their line or use it for their own purposes.
Mireille writes that the descendants of Jesus and Mary, inherited special gifts, that lets to look into the heats of men, to determine who is worthy of their trust. She finishes the letter by reminding Arianne's duty. Which is to continue the royal line, and to remain hidden from the false church. For one day, the messiah will come and he will cast out the false church. After reading this, Cardinal Innocent falls to his knees and begins to cry. Meanwhile, Rosalia's corpse is brought back to Rome.
Gallery
