Disclaimers: The characters from Sailor Moon are the intellectual properties of their creator. No profit is being made from this story.



Libris Demonica


Chapter 1


by Weirdbard



Serena was a happy young woman. Summer vacation from school had just begun. There hadn't been any attacks from any youmas lately and biggest of all miracles, she was actually getting along with Rini.


Ever since the business with the Dark Moon Circus and Queen Helenia, Serena accepted both in her heart as well as in her mind that Rini was going to be her future daughter. She had made a promise to the little girl that they would share everything in life and be there for each other and Serena was a young woman of her word. No more did she call Rini, Spore, Fungus or other less than complimentary names. Now Rini was either Rini or as was happening more and more often, Little Lady.


"Come on Little Lady. We are going to be late meeting the others. I told them that we would meet them at ten, so we could do some shopping before lunch." Serena called upstairs to Rini.


"Coming mommy!" Rini called back down. Rini had also accepted that Serena was her future mother in both her mind and heart as well. She made sure never to call her mommy when there was a chance that others might overhear. After all explaining how Serena could be her mother when she wasn't all that much older than Rini could be quite the trick. However Serena and Rini were alone in the house for the next three weeks. Serena's parents and Sammy had gone to visit some distant relatives and it had been decided that Serena was old enough to stay home and look after her 'cousin' Rini. So Rini was taking every opportunity she could to call Serena mommy. To Rini it just felt wonderful to be able to call Serena and Darien mommy and daddy.


Serena and Rini left the house and proceeded to leisurely make their way to where they were meeting the other scouts for shopping and lunch. Another example on how Serena was changing for the better was that she now scheduled her time so she didn't have to hurry or run any place anymore. Serena realized that her destiny and her future was rapidly approaching and she became determined to be prepared to meet that future and be the great lady that Rini constantly talked about with such love and devotion.


Reaching the location that Serena had agreed to meet the others, a new store recently opened that had been picked by Amy as the gathering place. Serena noted with a laugh that it was a bookstore. "Trust Amy to pick a new bookstore as a meeting place." Serena thought to herself.
Glancing at her watch she noted that she was ten minutes early. Gesturing at a bench outside of the store for Rini to sit down, she saw Amy coming out of the crowd towards her.


"Amy!" Serena squealed happily and grabbed her friend in a hug. It wasn't like Serena had not seen Amy just a few days ago but Serena was always boisterous in her greetings.
It was one of the things that her friends loved the most about her. You always knew that Serena was glad to see you.
Serena releasing Amy from her hug then held her at arm's length and looked at her with a mock frown. "Meet outside a bookstore?" She asked her and then grinned.


"I thought you might like to take a look inside and maybe find some nice books to read over the summer." Amy said with a smile of her own.


"Books over the summer?! Um, isn't that like schoolwork? Isn't there a law that you don't have to study or think outside of school? If there isn't I should enact one when I get to be Neo Queen Serenity." Serena joked.


Rini looking around to make sure that they were relatively alone on the street outside of the bookstore and said. "Mommy in the future was always proud of how much she read and knew. She used to say that knowledge is true power."


Serena and Amy looked at each other and blinked for a moment. Serena then dropping to one knee beside the bench so she could look Rini in the eye asked. "Are you sure that I am your mother in the future?" Serena then smiled to show she was joking.


"See Serena? Sometime in the future you develop a love for learning and knowledge that is equal to mine." Amy broke off when she saw identical expressions of doubt and disbelief on Serena's and Rini's faces. Amy laughed. "Okay maybe not equal to mine but still you accept that learning is very valuable. Who knows? Maybe that thirst for knowledge starts today in this very bookstore?"


Serena looking less that thrilled and even less convinced but finally nodded. "Oh okay. It will be a few more minutes before the others show up anyway. Maybe they have comic books in there as well?" The last she added in a hopeful voice.


Amy shook her head. "No, sorry Serena. This bookstore is quickly making a name for itself as the place to find rare and ancient books on history and philosophy. They only deal in books of knowledge. No comics in there."


Serena was reassured when she glanced down at Rini and saw a less than ecstatic look on her face as well. "Oh well come on Little Lady, let's see if I can expand my mind with something from there."


Amy looked surprised and a little triumphant. Getting Serena to actually go inside the bookstore let alone consider buying a non fiction or non comic book she had felt was too much to hope for but it looked like Serena was serious in her efforts to improve herself.


As they entered the bookstore Amy made a beeline for some old manuscripts dealing with mathematics. Serena and Rini shared a look among themselves and quickly moved on away from that section.
Serena was a little lost. She wanted something that not only could be useful to her future self but significantly impressive enough to impress Darien with her desire to improve and prepare herself for the future.


Seeing a man obviously working at the store putting books on the shelves, Serena walked up behind him and politely cleared her throat to get his attention. As the man turned Serena noted several things about him. One was that even though he was wearing clean clothes there was something about him that suggested he was filthy. He had tattoos down both arms but his arms were so hairy Serena couldn't tell what the tattoos were of. He had long scraggly hair that came down over his eyes and as he peered out from underneath the hair Serena could see his eyes seemed to be too shinny and too staring. Without
consciously thinking about it Serena took several steps back and to the side to shield Rini from the man's view.


"Yeah? What do you want?" The man practically growled at her as he looked her over.


Serena made a nervous gesture to pull her skirt a little lower as she noticed the man staring at her legs. "I was looking for a book. Something on history maybe. Perhaps something a little exotic?" She said in a nervous voice.


The man continued to stare at her for a moment and then with a grin that made Serena uncomfortable, pulled a book from a bag at his feet. "They say this book is very, very ancient. It is suppose to be about a kingdom that existed long before history books were even written. Some tell me that the book says the kingdom didn't even exist on this world. Is that exotic enough for you?"


Serena felt a slight thrill run through her.
"Could this creepy guy be talking about the Moon Kingdom?! Wouldn't it be incredible if I could find out some of the history of the Moon Kingdom and impress Darien with that knowledge?!"


Serena's thrill ended when she took a good look at the book however.
The book was massive in size! And it was hideous!
The leather the book was made out of was a grayish color and it looked like it had a flattened out face on either side of it. Serena could easily see that it was no trick of the light and traced with her finger tips the raised closed mouth and eyes on the cover of the book as the man handed it to her. She also noted that the book felt strange. The leather was almost slick in nature and even though it was dry and somewhat dusty, it left a impression of sliminess on her hands.


"Well I'm sure I couldn't afford such a old and valuable a book." Serena hurriedly replied as she tried to hand the book back to the man.


The man made no effort to take the book back from her however. "I said it was old, true. But valuable? No. Who wants a history and philosophy book based on some mythical kingdom?" The man then quoted Serena a price that was less than what she had paid for her last comic book.


"Well I can't really beat the price." Serena thought to herself. "And I did want something to impress Darien with, and this thing is sure impressive in a sort of horrid looking way."


"Okay I will buy it." She reluctantly told the man. The man quickly lead her to a old fashioned crank style cash register deep in the store while Rini wandered around looking at some travel books nearby. Putting the book in a large cloth bag he then handed it over to Serena. As Serena and Rini started towards the front of the store to collect Amy, neither one of them noticed as the man turned towards a book aisle and taking a few steps then disappeared in a swirl of smoke.


Reaching the front of the store, Serena and Rini watched as Amy purchased several new text books. The man behind the counter rang up her purchases on a brand new digital cash register and placed Amy's books in a plastic bag with the store's logo on it.


As the three then walked out of the store one of the employees asked another one. "Was that blond girl carrying a bag when she came in?"


"She must have been. We don't have any cloth bags like that here."


"By the way, what are we suppose to do with that antique cash register back there?"


"It is to go as a display over near the books on antiques."


"Oh okay."


Amy looked over at her friend as they sat down on the park bench to wait for the others to show up. "Did you buy anything Serena?" She asked.


"Yeah I found this book on history and philosophy. At least that is what the guy told me it was. I got it really cheap too." Serena said as she started to slide the book from it's
cloth bag to show Amy but was distracted when she saw Lita, Mina and Raye walking up to meet them. Sliding the partially revealed book back into it's bag she laid it down on the
bench and along with Amy and Rini leapt up to greet their friends.


As the friends were standing and talking no one noticed as a slightly unsavory looking character as he ran over to the bench and grabbed up Serena's book bag. The would be thief seeing that the girls were too busy talking to notice started to slide the book free from its bag to try and gage how valuable the item might be.
In other words if it was worth his effort to steal it.
As the 'eyes' of the book cleared the bag, the thief stared in shock as they opened and he found himself staring into two white swirling orbs. After staring for a moment the man carefully slide the book back into its bag and laid in back down on the bench. Then walking quickly the man came to a narrow alley between two businesses. Stepping into the alley the man then fell flat on his face and silently twitched a few times before dying.


Serena with a slight mock glare at Raye raced back to the bench to get her book to prove to her that Amy was telling the truth when she told them that she had gotten Serena into a bookstore that didn't sell comic books and she had actually purchased something.


"Okay, okay Meatball head. I believe you." Raye said as Serena started to slide the book from its bag. "You only bought it to impress Darien I bet."


Serena started to frown and launch into an argument with Raye but then just laughed and allowed the book to slide back into its bag. "What if I did? I will still have to read the thing now in case Darien decides to quiz me on what is in it."


"Yes Raye." Amy leapt to Serena's defense. "I think it speaks very well of her to want to improve herself and read a non fiction book over the summer. Perhaps after she finishes this one she will want to get some more books and read them as well."


"Um Amy? Don't push it." Serena said and then laughed with the others.


The rest of the day was spent shopping, eating, shopping and even more eating. It was quickly turning into one of Serena's most favorite days. She laughed with her friends and felt loved. Serena couldn't imagine living in a world she didn't have her friends with her and was happy she would never have to.


As the day drew to a close Serena waved bye to her friends and her and Rini started for home.


"Are we going out with Darien tonight?" Rini asked her as they came to their house.


Serena would have been attacked with jealous anger at the way Rini had phrased the question back in the beginning when she had first met Rini but not now. Accepting that Rini was her and Darien's future child she didn't mind spending time with both her and Darien. In fact she loved it.
It was still nice to get time alone with Darien of course but Serena accepted there was times when she couldn't have him all to herself.


"Not tonight Little Lady. He is having to work late tonight. It will be just you and me tonight."


"Are you cooking?" Rini tried to make the question sound innocent but couldn't help a note of apprehension from creeping in.


Serena didn't take offense though and laughed. "No I am going to have some take out sent over but not for a while yet. We both pigged out on ice cream just a short while ago."


Rini smiled and then yawned. "Is it okay if I take a nap before dinner? All the shopping today wore me out."


"You are a amateur shopper yet. When me and Mina get through with you, you'll be able to shop all day and most of the night." Serena laughed. "I don't see any reason why you can't take a little nap before dinner though. I'll wake you when the food arrives."


"You know in the future you don't get very many chances to shop any more. What with running everything with daddy. You always said you regretted not being able to just drop everything and run off for a 'mall crawl' with the other girls. I can see why now. It's fun." Rini smiled and then ran upstairs.


Serena going to her room placed the book bag on her desk and then looked around the room. She noticed that Luna was missing again. She remembered that she hadn't seen Artemis with Mina today either. "It would seem that those two were growing closer together. I guess they can't wait for their destinies and futures to reach them either." Serena thought with a smile.
Looking longingly at her bed for a moment Serena decided she better resist the urge to take her own nap. She didn't want to sleep too long and have Rini wake her up complaining that she didn't get the food like she said she would.
Sighing Serena sat down at her desk and pulling the bookbag over to her she quickly slid the book out from it and really examined it.


"Yep, it's still ugly and still big." She thought. She noticed something she had missed at the bookstore though. It had a huge leather strap running from one cover to the other, holding it close. Serena examined the silver clasp on the front of the book and wondered to herself how you opened it. Tugging a few times proved to be useless. The book was sealed close and she couldn't see any catch or lock on it she could open. Letting the book drop to the desktop she laughed at herself.
"Way to go Serena! Buy a book you don't really want to read and then find out you can't even figure out how to open it anyway."


Looking across the desk for something to try and pry the catch open she spotted a picture of her and Darien together. The picture frame was of silver and had a built in tiny flower vase that was holding a single perfect rose in it. The rose was not one of the magical ones that Tuxedo Mask created when fighting but a normal rose that Darien in his everyday guise had grown at a friend's green house at the botanical gardens. Darien took great pride in making sure that Serena always had a perfect rose with her to remind her of him.
Reaching out Serena started to take the rose from the vase to smell it.


"Ouch!" Serena yelped as she stuck herself on a thorn on the rose. Darien always tried to trim the thorns off of the roses he gave to her but roses had the habit of always having one more thorn you missed seeing so they could stick you.


Seeing that her finger was bleeding from being stuck, Serena stuck it in her mouth and sucked on the wound for a second before taking her finger out of her mouth. Shaking her head at her own carelessness in getting stuck she allowed her hand to relax naturally. As the hand with the bleeding finger came down it landed on the book she bought. A single drop of bright red blood fell from her finger to land on the 'mouth' of the book. Serena was not watching or she would have seen as the 'eyes' of the book flickered open briefly and immediately close again and the 'mouth' twitch slightly in a grim smile.
She did however hear as the clasp holding the book closed snap open with a almost pistol like shot.


Jumping back a little in shock at the sudden sound, Serena glanced down at the book and saw it was now unlocked. Shrugging at the weirdness of it all she opened the book and started to read.


The first page she saw was obviously the title of the book.


The Necronomicon.



The title meant nothing to Serena and she flipped a few pages over. Suddenly Serena found herself looking at a illustration of a man with his skin cut open revealing his inner organs. The illustration was disturbingly realistic and was drawn in a reddish/black ink.
"Ewww. The guy at the bookstore must be wrong. This isn't a history or philosophy book it must be a medical book. Well maybe Amy will be interested in it at least." Serena thought to herself.


Flipping to the next page Serena wondered to herself exactly what kind of book she had when she saw a illustration of something that was not even human. It looked kind of like one of the Cardian youmas she had fought as Sailor Moon back during the Ann and Allen doom tree business. Noticing strange writing below the picture Serena screwed up her eyes trying to read it. She wasn't sure what language it was but it sure wasn't Japanese or English. The letters looked more like Arabic script than anything else she had ever seen.
As Serena continued to stare at the weird writing she could swear the letters started to squirm on the page and rearrange themselves. In a matter of moment the strange symbols had reformed into writing she could read! Serena began to read.


Suddenly the moon crystal locket on her blouse started to open on it's own accord.
Serena her eyes taking on a glassy look to them didn't notice as she continued to silently read the book. As the locket on her blouse fully opened to reveal the moon crystal, the crystal suddenly flared out a blinding white light. Serena was boldly hurled from her desk across the room to crash across her bed and passed out. The book with a almost animal like growl of frustration slammed shut and the clasp once again snapped shut.


Serena lying flat on her back unconscious didn't see as her moon crystal gradually dimmed and the locket once again slowly closed.