ANGELIQUE — HELL WORE MY FACE

[Intro — solitary baroque harpsichord; low, intimate female voice] You call this order. I remember appetite. [Verse 1 — seductive female contralto; bowed cello, distant funeral drums] Paris, seventeen ninety-six, The candles bowed, the brass grew warm. They laid a mortal woman down And called me through her stolen form. The noble smiled to see me breathe; His servant watched him claim the prize. They thought they’d dressed a thing to own. I let them look into my eyes. [Pre-Chorus — restrained female lead; low guitars enter] They spoke as if a summoned thing Belonged to those who knew its name. I learned how quickly masters change— And how their hunger stays the same. [Chorus — commanding female belts; immense orchestral doom] ANGELIQUE! Remember what you tried to chain! I taught desire to speak in tongues Before you made a church of pain. Before your chains had learned to sing, Hell wore my face. Write your commandments on the walls— My name will not be erased. [Verse 2 — velvet female voice with growing contempt; slow, heavy sway] Two hundred years among their kind, Their whispered wants, their secret doors. I taught them how to ask for Hell And thank me when I offered more. Then came your cold procession, Your scripture hammered into bone. You called my pleasures weakness And reached to make my will your own. [Pre-Chorus — sharper female delivery; harpsichord against crushing guitar] I know the reach of every chain. I know the flattering word for slave. Do not mistake the hand I offer For one that trembles to be saved. [Chorus — powerful female lead; rising female choir] ANGELIQUE! Remember what you tried to chain! I taught desire to speak in tongues Before you made a church of pain. Before your chains had learned to sing, Hell wore my face. Write your commandments on the walls— My name will not be erased. [Bridge — instruments withdraw to harpsichord and cello; female voice cold and deliberate] Bring me the maker’s bloodline. Bring me the plans he left. A light to close the gates behind me— A dawn that Hell cannot possess. If freedom burns your kingdom down, Then let the mirrors catch the flame. I would unmake the Hell that made me Before I bless another chain. [Breakdown — enormous slow impacts; low female chant building into fury] Summoned— Never yours. Bound— But not remade. [Female Lead — fierce, sustained] You can fasten every chain. You cannot make me praise its weight! [Guitar Solo — brief baroque melody; ascending twin guitars over glacial low chords] [Final Chorus — explosive female belts; full orchestra and towering female choir] ANGELIQUE! Remember what you tried to chain! Your priesthood cannot bury me Beneath its sacrament of pain. Before your chains had learned to sing, Hell wore my face. Carve your commandments into stone— I WILL NOT TAKE A SERVANT’S PLACE! [Final Refrain — female lead; choir answers with her name] Before your chains had learned to sing— [Female Choir] ANGELIQUE! [Female Lead — raw, defiant] Before you dressed your fear as faith— [Female Choir] ANGELIQUE! [Full Female Ensemble — immense final impact] HELL WORE MY FACE! [Outro — solitary harpsichord; female whisper] Say my name. It is not yours. [Harpsichord stops. Abrupt silence.]