The World of Darth [ON HOLD]

[Zulma san]

Emilia frowned. Indeed they were. She looked at the vampire undressing herself and getting back on her saddle. The werewolf disliked more and more the overall plan...which actually was not a plan! Yet she grunted and nodded.

The werewolf untied her horse and went back on their steps. Then she hide the horse and came back where Angeles had left her. As a member of the Unit Emilia had trained during the day to develop her human muscles and although she would not be able to face a trained human being, at least she was able not to collapse too easily.

With cautious moves, she climbed up the closest big tree. From there she could observe the vampire without being seen. The branches and leaves were hiding her and she was remaining still. As she had promised, she would not follow the vampire...not yet.


----

- Look!
- I see that...
- Did you lost your way?

Three men fully armed were coming in Angeles's direction from the front and the sides. They were all wearing sarcastic smiles and narrow eyes.  

[Angeles Valentine]

Angles glanced at the men, a cold look in her eyes but she reigned her horse to a stop, "I come on peaceful terms," said Angeles to the three men, "I came to speak to Vincent, I just have some questions."

Alexandria snorted and tossed her head, catching the three men in her large brown eye. Angeles tightened on the reigns to keep the horse from bolting and herself stopped breathing to keep from panicking. This was a foolish move, and she knew it, one that could probably result in nothing gained, but someone had to try.

She dismounted and held out her hands to show she was unarmed, the sunlight shining off her pale skin as her cold eyes watched the men carefully.  

[Zulma san]

Emilia had not been able to repress a silent growl at the sight of the three men, but she had not moved from where she was. She had given her word and would hold it.

-In peace?
-What a joke?
*chuckles*

The three men looked at her cautiously as she moved down her horse.

The most courageous grabbed her wrist.
-What a pity!
-Indeed.
*sigh*

-If she wants to see Vincent.
-Yes, we have to or else...
*sighs*

The second man grabbed her other wrist and the third the reins of the horse.

-You follow.
-In silence.
*silence*
-Or else...Vincent or not...
-Indeed one move and...
*laughs*

The men pulled her to a stack of rocks which rolled open. Once inside the rocks closed and Emilia could not see them. She knew that coming closer would be dangerous and that the entrance was probably guarded also she could see no one.

Nonetheless the werewolf remained quite and careful, she watched intently for anything which could be of help.  

[Angeles Valentine]

How idiotic. Those were her thoughts as she listened to the humans speak, some not finishing their thoughts, others speaking in one word with suggestive tones. She ignored them all, but kept their faces in mind. If anything, the Unit would no a few more faces to find.

She did not speak to these humans further as they led her to the dark underground. How fitting, and at the same time, how ironic for the ones who called themselves the 'blessed' to be living underground, away from the sun that robbed her of her power.

She needed only to speak to Vincent. Once they were at him, she would speak, until then, these people would get nothing but silence.  

[Zulma san]

Emilia remained silent and immobile.

Inside the cave, there was nobody.
The three men remained silent pulling her. They had put the horse alone in a cell next to the entrance.
A last they came to a 'room'.

-Vincent.
-A vampire.
-For you.
The three men seemed far less courageous all of a sudden and they pushed Angeles inside before pulling a large piece of wood which was supposed to be a door but which did not have hinges...  

[Angeles Valentine]

Angeles stumbled slightly and looked over her shoulder at the retreating figured before turning to look at Vincent. It had only been a few days, he had not changed in the slightest. Her eyes were hard as she looked at him, some of his thoughts and memories floating through her mind.

"What do you want vampire?" asked the man, obviously also remembering her.

Angeles looked down, the three men had not even bound her hands. So foolish. She looked back at Vincent, "I come unarmed in the middle of the day," she said, showing that she was defenseless, "to ask one simple question. Was it the Blessed that built the bomb, detonated during the queens funeral?"

Vincent smiled but his eyes sneered, "that's not a simple question at all."  

[Zulma san]

Emilia frowned as she saw two of the three men coming back out with Angeles's horse.
Yet she remained immobile and smirked.

Angeles was unarmed and coming in peace, but the werewolf doubted that the horse was sharing her master's feeling.

With a bright smile on her lips, she waited for potential entertainment as the men decided to check out the pockets of Angeles's saddle.  

[Angeles Valentine]

Alexandria snorted and rolled her ears back as the men began to investigate the contents of the saddlebags. They would find her coat and deathwhisper, the black metal of the weapon cold no matter what, her hunter's kit would also be pulled out. The men rummaged through and exchanged strange looks.

Alexandria snorted and tossed her head. Getting startled reaction then a laugh from the men. One hit his friend's shoulder then climbed into the saddle. Alexandria whinnied and began to buck. The moment the man fell off she calmed down. The other two looked at each other before another jumped on and went through the same cycle.

Angeles' hard eyes did not leave Vincent's as he scrutinized her. Disgust was apparent in his eyes.

"No," he finally answered.

"Lies," said Angeles and Vincent's smile faded.  

[Zulma san]

Emilia smirked at first, but she slowly froze, the horse would probably tire up before the men. Her jaws were clenched and her eyes narrowed as she witnessed the scene without being able to do anything.

This was when an arrow sliced through the air directly in the back of the man who was on the horse. The man's head titled and his full body collapse from the mare face in the dirt. The two others remained immobile for a long moment, staring at the arrow.

Emilia cursed. Who the hell was that? She could not see the arrow and therefore was unable to identify its owner.

As the two other men seemed to realize what was going on, one opened his mouth to shout and was quiet down by an arrow across his throat. The third one did not get far either.

Emilia passed a hand on her face.
So much for the diplomatic mission...she thought.
She was expecting other members of the Blessed to shout and come around...but there was no movement, not even from the archer.
Was that location only a small post with those three and Vincent? She could not be sure for she had not seen the inside of the cave yet the lack of security was a big hint that Vincent might now be the only one alive.

However not knowing the identity of the killer, Emilia did not move an inch.  

[Angeles Valentine]

Alexandria continued to scream and buck the men as they jumped on her. As blood splattered on her hide and the riding stopped she also calmed down and snorted, her sides heaving with her exertion. Soon a shadow moved from the trees and caught her reigns and looked her over. A middle-aged man with long dark-brown hair tied in a ponytail on his bcak ran a hand along her side before bending and investigating the items on the ground. From them he could gather that the horse had belonged to a hunter.

He stood up and looked around, his bow and arrows on his back. His eye caught on something and instantly his weapon was in his hands, drawn at full length with the head of an arrow pointed at a shadow in the tree.

~~~~~~~~

"I've done the math. And it was very simple really: the silver in the bomb was the major give-away. The bomb was made by human hands, and no humans would be daring enough to create and place such a bomb except for the Blessed. Your being there finishes the equation."

Vincent's eye narrowed then suddenly he was at her, his hand around her throat, which would not kill her, but in his free hand was a vial of water, the sacred symbol etched on the glass said the rest and Angeles' eyes went wide with fear, despite herself.

"Are you going to tell the Unit?" asked Vincente in a mock friendly tone and he laughed slightly.

"Why would I do that?" gasped Angeles from his grip, "I own them no loyalty."

"You oh loyalty to your leech king," snarled Vincent flicking the vial open with his thumb.  

[Zulma san]

Emilia looked at the man, her eyes staring at him through the shadow. A nice piece of meat! He was obviously trained and agile with the woods. She had not felt him coming and his aim was certain. So when he pointed at her despite being able to fully see her through the branches, she knew that she had not much choice. She assumed that he would either aim at her directly or fire his arrow if she launched him. She also made the assumption that the enemy of an enemy is a friend...
So she acted quickly, as quickly as her weak limbs allowed her during the day and she jumped down the tree without a weapon in hand.

She stood up slowly, her gaze on the man.
"I am here on a diplomatic mission." she growled. She felt the words quite ironic.
"Actually I was... until you killed them all." she looked at the bodies on the ground. "Nice shot." she said but her voice remained irritated.

Her strange eyes looked at the blue eyes of the ranger and she sighed.
"I guess now I will have to go fetch her before it turns nastier." she grunted.  

[Angeles Valentine]

As the woman dropped from the trees the ranger's bowstring went slack. He recognized the member of the unit and his arrow found its place back in the quiver and he strung the bow around it, "diplomatic?" he asked nudging one of the raided items with the toe of his boot, "doing one hell of a job," he said before dashing over to the hidden entrance and began to feel around for the opening.

~~~~~

"I suppose this is the end of the famous Angeles Valentine," Said Vincent, forcing her head up and tilting the vial over her mouth, digging his fingers into the spaces of her jaw to part her lips enough to pour the liquid down her throat.

Angeles knew that if the water went into her mouth, it would burn her from the inside out. Angeles' eyes widened then narrowed as she lifted her leg then crushed the heel of her boot against Vincente's foot. The man jerked and the water spilled onto Angeles' shoulder.

The pain blinded her and she had not the strength to scream, falling to her knees and taking a blow to the head, buts he lashed out with her leg, planting her hands on the ground. She heard a body fall to the ground as she tripped Vincente  

[Zulma san]

Emilia quickly gathered the things scattered all over the ground and put them quickly back on Angeles's saddle.
She snorted in derision. "One hell of a job indeed." she echoed sarcastically.

She looked at the man trying to find the entrance. Was he trying to help her? But who the hell was he?
I guess questions will be for later... she thought to herself.
She had seen the way the men opened the 'door' when they pulled Angeles in. Without explaining anything, she headed for the side where she had seen one of the blessed pressed on a smaller stone but as she touched it, her hand burned.
"F***" she cursed and jumped back.
Hurt much more in her ego than physically, she turned to him.
"The mechanism is here...but it seems that you will have to activate it." One other thing to add to her already awful day, she thought as she looked to the inside of her palm burned by the silver stone.
She should have thought about it. How careless of her. So eager to show off in front of that human to think straight! She backed off and waited for the man to press the stone and activate the opening.  

[Angeles Valentine]

The ranger glanced at her hand and sighed before walking over and pressed the stone in and the door open. He immediately ran in.

Vincente had pounced on Angeles and was holding her down as she struggled and grasped around for the fallen vial. If anything else he could shove the glass down her throat and accomplish the same task.

Angeles was not having any of it though and with a grunt of force she lifted her legs and wrapped them around Vincente's neck and pulled him backwards and down to the ground before stumbling to her feet, grasping her shoulder.

She was suddenly grabbed from behind and hauled backwards, hearing something clatter to the ground. The ranger hooked his arm around the vampire's waist and began to drag her back up to the light, dropping caltrops to the ground to slow pursuit.

He dragged the struggling vampire into the light and hoisted her up onto her horse and whistled, a neigh responded and a bay horse ran up beside him and he got into the saddle. He grabbed and tied the vampire's horse to his saddle and yelled to the werewolf, "get on your horse let's get out of here!"  

[Zulma san]

Emilia's eyes darkened at the man's sigh but she remained quite. He was fast for a human, well actually he was fast compared to her in the middle of the day. She followed him in, but before she had made a couple of steps, he was already back...dragging Angeles.

The werewolf was not the coward type but she knew that fighting now would be useless. So before the man had evern yelled at her, she was rushing for her horse. She found him and jumped on him with disgust. If only that was the night, she could just run behind.

She grunted and followed the man and Angeles. As if it was not enough for her to have to cope with the vampire, now she had to deal with that male human who was ordering her around.

"What a day..." she growled as the three horses galloped away from the cave.