• Trinity Blood: The Power to Fight
    By: BDS
    Book 1 of 5
    Pages 1-28
    Rated: PG-13

    Chapter One: The Mystery of the Priest

    "To my dear friends;
    I am writing you to report that the raid on the local Methuselah clan in the northern portion of Lutetium has failed horribly. Also, I regret that they know in full detail the Vatican's intentions, and that they may be planning a counterstrike on the Vatican's Headquarters. I hope all else is well, and that we will be in contact soon.
    Sincerely
    Father Abel Nightroad
    Crusnik 02
    P.S. Please do not expect us back at HQ anytime soon. And, also, Caterina, don't worry."
    Caterina Sforza read and reread the progress report given to her earlier in the morning. She found, that since its delivery, she'd read it nearly a dozen times, and each time she found herself begging and praying that its contents had changed for the better.
    For about a moment, she sat with the report in her hands, and with a final glance at Father Nightroad's hurried script, she set the report stiffly on the desk before her.
    "Sister Kate?"
    Within seconds, a woman appeared before Caterina. She was wearing a long white dress with blue trimming, and long blonde hair was concealed by a habit made out of the very same white and blue material. "Yes, Cardinal Caterina?"
    The woman's body flickered.
    Caterina sighed, "So, a hologram? Please tell me, Sister Kate," She pause, idling the monocle placed in front of her right eye. Her long, blonde hair fell over her shoulders in perfect locks, and her cool grey eyes shimmered fondly as she spoke.
    "Tell me, when are you going to leave the seclusion of the Iron Maiden? People are going to start to believe that the work I've been assigning you, has maybe finally killed you. And I've never really been the type to take well to answering awkward questions."
    Kate flashed a quick and brief grin, but was quicker to regain her strict composure. "Your Eminence, if you would, now is not the time to be making jokes. Not when the situation in Lutetium is so serious! I've heard about the report sent by Father Nightroad, and I've also heard that the report is far from what we'd hoped for." Kate crossed her arms in front of her body, and frowned down at the Cardinal.
    Caterina smiled and whispered, "Yes, of course. You're absolutely right. Please forgive me, Sister." She returned her attention back to the report, and for the first time she noticed that something about it, didn't add up. "Sister, please tell me, did any other AX operative accompany Father Nightroad?"
    Kate shook her head immediately, "No. And, if you don't mind me asking, but, why do you ask, Your Emenince?"
    "In Abel's report it says," she quickly underlined the words by tracing her finger under them, and reading outloud, "Please do not expect us back at HQ anytime soon" She lifted her gaze until she was eye-to-eye with Kate. "Are you absolutely certain that no other AX operative left with him?"
    "Correct. But if it will ease Your Eminence's mind, I'll check," she lifted her right hand and pressed it against the communicatore placed inside her right ear. "I'm contacting Gunslinger. If anyone knows of who's with Father Nightroad, it'd be him." She cleared her throat and began to speak with a tone of authority in her voice, "Father Tres, do you read me?"
    Almost instantly, a deep monotoned voice filled Kate's ear, "Affirmative."
    "Do you know of any clue, as to if anyone traveled with Father Abel, to aid him in the infiltration against the Methuselahs in Lutetium?"
    "Negative. Father Nightroad had insisted that he travel to Lutetium alone." Tres' voice was also mechanical.
    Kate's eyes opened wide. "Is that so? I appreciate all of your help, you've been of a big assistance, Father Tres. Sister Kate Scott, out....."
    "Well......" Caterina whispered, she was nearly on the edge of her chair.
    Kate shook her head once more, and sadly she whispered, "It appears to me, that Father Nightroad has decieved you, Your Eminence. I'm afraid that he's alone."
    Caterina looked down at Abel's handwriting, and closing her eyes, she whispered, "And I'm supposed to not worry?! Dammit! Abel, you fool!" She began to pound her elegantly gloved fist on the hardwood desk, the reverberations from the blows caused the letter to glide several inches away form her. "Abel Nightroad you are the biggest fool I've ever met! You are always trying to prove yourself!" Tears quickly began to cloud her vision, her voice became slightly choked. "I remember, as though it just happened yesterday, the fateful night that Abel and I first met."
    Closing her eyes, the tears that had clouded her vision fell like the rain. "It's been nearly ten years. Ten long years. The Methuselahs who had always been so peaceful, decided that they wanted to taste the blood of humans. They'd been feeding on all of the townspeople. Killing them off one by one. Leaving only the bloodless bodies of their victims. My mother was killed first, and my father decided that it would be best for Francesco, Alessandro, and for myself if he stayed behind. He told us that he would destract them, in order to give the three of us a fleeting chance of escape. I can still hear his screams of pain and of sheer terror." She paused, wiping away a few stray tears, and then she continued, "My brothers and I all got seperated in our desperate attempt to reach a safe haven. Francesco and Alessandro remained together, but I was alone. It felt like an eternity had passed before I was finally found, but by then, I was ready to accept death. Only the person who found me, wasn't a Methuselah. But rather it was Abel. I didn't know what to think. I was both terrified, and relieved that I had been found. He was completely covered in the blood of the vampires. Though, the thing that I remember the most about that night isn't that, but rather the things that Abel said to me. I asked him who he was, and his response was simple. He said, Someone who's come to save the lives of humans. I'm here to protect you."
    Kate looked around the room, lost for words, "Lady Caterina, I....." She fell silent when a faint static noise filled her right ear.
    "Si--Ka--th--am--es!"
    "Hello?" Kate asked, the noise growing loud in her ear.
    "Th--s--Ab--ig--oad--o--e--m--"
    "Wait! Father Abel, is that you?!"
    "Sister Kate, what is it?"
    "Si--te--h--am--re--r--a--ck--g--!" Abel's plea could barely be heard over the now heavy static. "--el--!"
    "Father Nightroad, I can't understand what you're saying! Please speak up or move to a place with better reception! Father Nightroad!?"
    The line went dead.
    "ABEL!!" Kate looked directly at Caterina and immediately said, "Contact Father Tres and order him to get to the Iron Maiden for an immediate departure! Abel's in danger!"
    "No....." Caterina quickly contacted Tres. "Father! Report to the Iron Maiden! Immediately!"
    "Positive." Tres answered, making his way to the Iron Maiden.
    Kate's hologram faded, leaving Caterina sitting at her desk. The darkness that she'd been fearing to come true, were finally becoming a nightmarish reality. "This is all my fault. I'm so sorry Abel....."

    He continued running, too afraid to stop, too afraid to look back, he was even too afraid to breathe. His silvery-white hair was pulled back neatly with a single black ribbon. His long black priests' robe was billowing out behind him, occasionally catching between his legs. The circular glasses that he wore, were slipping down his nose, sweat drenching his face.
    He was extremely cautious about knowing where he was, and where he'd been. Constantly checking the changing surroundings about him. "I've....I've got to get out of here. But how?" Abel finally whispered, slowing slightly, for he didn't wish to get caught.
    He was soon able to regain his lost breath, and, with the sleeve of his robe he wiped his face free of all sweat. But when he moved his arm to do so, he felt a searing pain move up and down his left shoulder. He had to grit his teeth tightly in order to refrain himself from yelling out in pain. "Da--Damned vampires!"
    Slowly, so as not to cause himself anymore pain, Abel shifted his shoulder and noticed that the black cloth had ripped. With a careful and steady hand he began to pull away the torn cloth, and once it had been comletely pulled back, he had revealed a deep and painful gash. There was fresh blood seeping out of it, and had begun to run over the crusty dried blood.
    He quickly began to remove the black ribbon from his hair, and without it, his long hair fell neatly to his waist.
    With the ribbon in his hand, Abel began to attempt to tie it around the open wound, at first, with no success, but then with every new attempt he made more progress. He winced as he finally reached his sixth attempt, and had finally managed to tie the ribbon around his arm. "That should hold....for now at least....."
    Abel, who had been kneeling down on the filthy floor, stood up, revealing his true height. Standing at a giant height of six foot three, Abel Nightroad was both tall and slender. As a touring priest dispatched form the Vatican, he had nothing of great value. His cassock, was torn and tattered for the countless missions given to him.
    As a priest, his two most important jobs were to purify andy and all vampires that he crossed paths with, and he was also in charge of tracking down a small band of vampires that called themselves, "The Fleur du Mal".
    With every new member recruited by the Orden that he met, Abel managed to learn more and more about them, and their petty reasons for war. He had also learned that more than half of them were working as double agents for an even bigger organization, "The Rosen Kreuz Orden".
    The Vatican knew very little about the Rosen Kruez Orden, except for the fact that they hated two things:
    1. The Vatican's Clergy
    And 2. Terrans
    And to Abel's dismay, he was able to fit into both of those categories. Though he couldn't help the fact that he was what he was, but only wished that sometimes in his life had been different.
    "I've got to find a way to get in contact with the Vatican! They've got to send me reinforcements!" Abel moved his right hand to his left ear and whispered, "Sister Kate?"
    Instead of hearing the calming sound of Kate's voice, Abel's ear was filled with the sound of heavy static.
    "Dammit! I'm out of reach! My communicators' signal is reaching the Vatican's communication towers' antenna!"
    As Abel stopped talking, he heard the voice of the enemy.
    "I smell the filthy Terran's blood! It's in that direction! Hurry!"
    The voice was distant, but it was sitll close enough to send chills up and down Abel's spine.
    "Now would be the best time for me to leave." He began to move in the opposite direction of the voice. He moved quickly, and quietly, constantly pushing himself to continue on his search for a safe haven.
    He quickened his pace considerably when he heard several loud footsteps closing in behind him. "I may have lost too much blood, but this is something that I have to do. Besides, I made her a promise, and I intend to keep it." Abel whispered, wishing to yell out in white rage to the Heavens above him.
    He made sure that he was well hidden before he whispered, in a deep and confident voice, "Nano-machine....Crusnik 02....Power output 40%.....Activate!"
    The change in Abel's physique was nearly instantaneous. His silvery-white hair, once tame, became an unruly silvery crown. His wintery blue eyes, steadily gained the color of blood. His already slender body began to look transparent. His height increasing.
    Just as the changes were occurring, the vampires that had been hunting him, finally found what they sought. Three vampires, each with fair skin, flashed wicked fanged smiles. "Well, it seems to me that we, my dear brothers, are to feast again tonight. Although," the vampire halted, his brown hair swaying as he looked from side to side. But after another moment he sighed sadly and lamented, "Although I doubt that we will get very much blood from him. He looks weak, and he's injured. I smell that he won't last that much longer. So we can just kill him for sport. We do have our orders to follow after all."
    Each of the three vampires snickered, and eyed Abel. Each with a look of supreme satisfaction on their faces.
    Abel narrowed his eyes, with a distinct fury. "Quiet! You damned fools! I will make sure that you never feed on anybody for the rest of your lives. I will not allow it!" Abel whispered, his voice suddenly deep and sinister. Every asset of his body was now dark and almost demonic. His hands shook with a blinding serge of anger that was steadily growing within him.
    "Who the hell do you think you are?! Talking to us in that manner! And on another note: What the hell are you?!" The vampire that spoke, had hoped of scaring Abel, but then he said with less confidence than before, "You're obviously not a Terran, but yet, you're also not one of us!"
    Abel chuckled softly, "You really are a fool! Tell me, has it never occurred to you that there may be something beyond the two? Humans eat the flesh of cows and birds. Vampires drink the blood of humans. So then....why not a being still further up on the food chain? A being which preys upon the vampires? I am a Crusnik....a vampire that feeds on the blood of vampires." Abel's hungary eyes scanned all three of the vampires, waiting desperately for their attack.
    The vampire on Abel's left side laughed, "Talk is cheap! Your words are meaningless!"
    Abel focused on the single vampire, he could feel the blood within his body boiling. "Talk is cheap, huh? Well then, I will make certain that you never speak, or hear another sound from this world again! DIE!!!!" He quickly and furiously thrust his hand deep within the vampires' chest cavity.
    The vampires' eyes grew wide with fear, "What are you doing to me?! I'm--I'm not ready to die! STOP!!!"
    "Silence!" Abel snapped, twisting his fist back and forth within the pulsing cavity. "I'm doing what I should've done from the start!" He pulled his hand free from the vampires' chest, leaving a gaping hole in its place. His hand was soaked with the crimson blood of the vampire. And with a quick motion, Abel opened his fist.
    In his hand, was the dead beating heart.....
    The vampire stumbled forward, reaching out with both hands, grabbing for the heart that was once his. "No! Don't do it! PLEASE NO!!!"
    Abel clasped his hand shut, and the vampire fell dead on the spot.
    The heart burst into a million tiny particles, blood splattering the faces of Abel and of the two reamaining vampires.
    "Ju--JULIO!! NO!! DEAR BROTHER!!!!!" The vampire lifted from the image of his brothers' bleeding body, and staring at Abel he raged, "YOU--YOU b*****d!!! YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE FOR THIS!!! I SWEAR TO YOU!!!! YOU WILL PAY!!!!!!" He looked back at Julio and then back at Abel, "DAMN YOU!!!!!!"
    The vampire flung himself towards Abel, but gasped when Abel jumped high into the air, landing ten feet from where he'd been.
    "What the--"
    "You may curse me if you find comfort in doing so, but I'm not the one who's committed a crime. So it is you who is to be damned. And it is you who is to pay the price!" Abel rushed forward with great speed, and with a firm hand, he gripped the vampires' throat and the slowly he brought his mouth to the milky white skin. And for the first time, he revealed pointed white fangs, which he sunk deep into the vampires' skin. He closed his eyes, savoring the vampires' blood.
    "What--What the hell are you--" The vampire managed to whisper before falling silently sideways, his albino eyes almost to the point of popping out of their sockets.
    Looking at the last remaining vampire, Abel bared his blood stained fangs. Blood from his victim dripped thickly from the corner of his mouth, all the way down to his chin where it dripped onto the ground. His red eyes began to flash dangerously.
    He then addressed the vampire, "You do know, that there is still a chance for you to save yourself. All you have to do is answer all of my questions. Every answer in complete detail. Now tell me: Who hired you?!"
    "I will never tell you! I am under strict oath! And yet, you stand there, expecting me to tell you everything?!"
    "Well vampires aren't exactly known for their loyalty!"
    "You're right. But when it's our life that's on the line....."
    "Tell me! Now! Who hired you!"
    "NEVER! I made a promise!"
    "Long ago, I made a promise. One that I had intend to keep. A promise to never kill anyone..." Abel narrowed his red eyes, his black pupils consuming all avalible space.
    "A promise you say?" The vampire whispered, hoping to turn the tables on Abel.
    "Correct, an oath to never kill anyone, nor allow anyone to die. As an atonement for my sins. So I will not kill you, nor anyone ever again! But I will kill you if you leave me with no other choice! Now tell me! Or prepare to die!"
    The vampire finally decided to give in, the chance of life or death was a truly pushing argument. "The Rosen Kreuz Orden!"
    "The Rosen Kreuz?!" Abel repeated, eyeing the vampire, studying him, all the while searching for the slightest sign of deception. "And why would you join forces with them? What could they possibly offer to you?"
    "Revenge!"
    "Revenge?"
    "Correct! Revenge on the Terrans! Every damned one!"
    "And why would you seek vengence on the humans?"
    The vampire froze for a moment, but then whispered, "Terrans are the reason that my dear, beloved wife, Maria, is no longer here. The Terrans killed her because she, being a Terran herself, was married to a Methuselah, such as myself."
    "What?!" Abel's appearance softened. "I, too, know what it's like to lose loved ones. Loss is never an easy thing to face! I, too, know what it's like to want justice for those who have been taken from us. However! Vengence is nothing but an endless cycle! All it creates is more pain and suffering! Think of the loved ones you've lost, how would they feel about your course of action? Wouldn't they rather you light a candle instead of curse the darkness?!"
    The vampire spat at Abel's words, "I don't need your sermon, priest!"
    "Fine! So be it!" Abel's exprssion hardened, and he once again thrust his hand forward and clasped it around the vampires' neck, squeezing tightly.
    "No! Wait! I'm--"
    Abel tightened his grip, a loud, gut churning, crunch escaped from the vampires' mouth. Blood filling his throat, caused a sickening gurlge.
    The vampire tried to yell out in pain, but was unable to do so.
    "You know," Abel pulled vampires' face in front of his own. "I could be cruel, and allow you to suffer a little while longer. But then a thought crosses my mind. You're going to spend the rest of eternity with the weight of damnation on your shoulders. So I will do you one final favor and end your pain here on this earth!" He squeezed with all of his strength, and crushed the vampires' trachea, killing him instantly.
    "For your crimes on this earth, your are sure to be damned. Nonetheless, I will say a prayer for the sake of your brothers and yourself." Abel bowed his head, returning to his natural form.
    The form of a simple touring priest dispatched from the Vatican.

    To Be Continued in Chapter Two: Rescued But Not Saved