Disclaimer: Trinity Blood is owned by Sunao Yoshida. I fell in love with the story (sadly with anime first, then the manga, and finally the novels).
Request: If you have not read book 1 Trinity Blood: Book 1: Divergent Path then please do so. The epilogue to book 1 explains why Abel is in Milan and there will be points in this story which would be confusing if you have not read book 1.
I hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Also, I request feedback unless you are unable to post it. Feedback helps me get motivated for the next chapter and helps me grow as a writer.
Thank you,
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(Author's Note: I looked up the distance between Rome and Milan, Italy it's well over three hundred miles not matter how you travel (plane, train , or car (carriage)) There is no way if Caterina was at her parent's estate she could have entered the catacombs where Abel was. This is why I have Abel in Milan on a mission from the pope. It really wouldn't have worked otherwise.

Oh, yes, about Havel, I have him enter because he really is the only one who as part of the Vatican from before the AX was founded and I wanted a character who the pope would know he could trust.)


Trinity Blood: Book 2: The Winter Rose
Prologue: The Rosenkreuz Orden?

The enticing scent of Methuselah blood filled the air. Whack, Abel ducked seconds before a fist would have slammed into him. "How can you be so fast?" spat the Methuselah who was attacking Abel. Snarling, she whipped around trying to take hold of Abel's long hair. Quickly Abel grabbed her wrist twisting it. She shrieked in pain. Her free hand shot towards him, her fingers melding into a sword. Reaching up, Abel barely noticed the pain as he caught the blade, stopping it inches from his nose.

"Who do you work for?" Abel asked his voice calm and even, almost emotionless. This fight had been hard, but he chocked this up to the fact he hadn't had tough fights in the past six years and before that he had been in Lilith's tomb for over seven hundred years. "Why do you want to kill the Sforza family?" he looked at the woman calmly even as she struggled to free herself from his grasp.

"What the hell are you?" she snarled, long fangs flashing in the dim light of the hotel entryway. Abel could just hear the humans shaking with fear behind the reception desk. They were safe enough at the moment. The other two Methuselah who had been with this one were bound tightly in silver chains Abel had been left by a Vatican contact Pope Gregorio had sent at the time Abel had come.

"I am the one asking questions here," Abel spoke calmly, but he twisted her wrist further. The bone snapped and she howled in pain. "Who are you working for? Why are they after the Sforza family?" He placed more pressure on her broken wrist.

"All right, all right, I'll talk!" she shrieked, trying to get free of his grasp. "Rosenkreuz Orden!" she shouted eyes wild with pain and fear. "They're after the girl. She's related to the pope somehow, niece or daughter or something, I don't know. I was told to kill her, I don't ask questions!"

"Rosenkreuz Orden?" Abel had never heard of them. Then again he shouldn't be shocked. He had only been out of the tomb for nearly six years now. This mission had been one of the hardest, seeing as Pope Gregorio had no knowledge on who had planned this and what was going on. "What is the primary objective of you organization?" Abel asked. He needed answers and he needed them fast. Tonight Sforza family was hosting a party and he would have to in the area to ensure no Methuselah tried to sneak in.

"I don't know," she growled. "I was only ordered to kill the Sforza brat. I'm not paid to ask questions like you are, you filthy terran," Abel's jaw tightened at the use of the name he had given humans over eight-hundred years ago.

"Very well then," Abel twist her arms, forcing them behind her back a bit more roughly than he normally would have done so. Quickly he wrapped silver chain around her wrists and dragged her over to her fellows, binding her to them. In a quick motion he knocked her out. Walking over to the desk, he peered over it at the humans there. "You can come out now. They won't escape." There were four in all: one man, who owned this hotel, a hotel employee, and a woman with her son. "Here," Abel pulled out some money, "this should be enough to cover any damage done." He placed the money on the counter before starting towards the door. Pausing in the doorway, he looked over his shoulder at group, "Someone from the Vatican will be here shortly to collect those three," he gestured at the Methuselah. "Good day," Abel bowed his head and left the hotel, heading into the bright, afternoon sun.

Abel stood there for several long moments blinking. Even after six years he still wasn't used to bright lights. This had to be a side effect of living in a dark tomb for so long. Shaking his head, Abel moved to an alley and leaned against the wall. He looked at his hands. One had a long gash on the palm which had stopped bleed and the other had blood of a Methuselah on it. Slowly he lifted the hand with the Methuselah blood and licked it.

"Tastes like dirt," Abel muttered. Pulling out a cloth, he wiped off the rest of the blood. In the end licking more of the blood would draw attention or he would change and enough up killing everyone here. He shuddered at the thought.

"Do you think we'll meet him this time?" Abel slowly looked towards the entrance into the alley to see a sister walking beside a priest. The priest wore the black and white robes and long white cloth of a father, only the cape was missing. His hair was shoulder length, wavy, and a dark brown. "Father Havel?" asked the sister when Father Havel didn't reply. "It's been a year since I was sent here; surely he isn't going to hide from us forever."

"I doubt he will show himself," stated Havel, pausing just before the entrance into the alley and looking at the sister. "I've been here for six years and he never shows himself," Havel wasn't looking at the sister anymore but at the hotel. "This is the place," he entered the hotel without pause and, with a sigh of disappointment, the sister followed.

Shaking his head, Abel pulled out a book as he sank to the ground. Pen in hand he flipped to a page and began to write down what he had discovered when interrogating that Methuselah. "Rosenkreuz Orden?" he wrote at the top of the page before jotting down a few side notes on how they were somehow involved in all of this mess.

Abel closed the book and stood. It was time returned to patrolling the estate. He had only left it in order to investigate the rumors of "vampires" in the city. The more time he wasted here, the higher the possibility was a Methuselah would try to sneak into the estate. He glanced towards the sun. Besides it was nearly time for the party and this would have been the prefect time for them to strike. Sighing, Abel started off. This was proving to be rather taxing indeed. So far there was very little to go off of. Hopefully all would be well during this party as well. He assumed it was the girl's birthday or something, seeing as a party had occurred every year on this day for the past six years. Abel shook his head. It didn't matter, his job was only to protect them and discover who was behind this, nothing more or less.