Trinity Blood: Book 2: The Winter Rose
Chapter 2: Midnight Chase

Abel raced across the ground, heart pounding and eyes scanning the dark night. Every now and then he glanced over this shoulder. Even still he could not see anyone following, but the feeling remained. He had to return to the church and get Lady Caterina out of Milan before midnight. The entire estate had been swarming with Methuselah. At this rate it would be only a matter of time before they discovered where Caterina had gone. Fool! He was complete fool. Why the hell had he taken her to the church of all places? It was always the first place Methuselah would look for someone they were hunting when in Vatican territory.

Skidding, dust flew up into Abel's eyes as he rounded a corner at full pelt. Even with the fact he had drank Methuselah blood in the past thirty minutes, he was still having difficulty out pacing the Methuselah. Weak, completely weak, a crusnik who was nearly slower than a Methuselah… Abel stopped before the church. If there had been humans around he suspected they would have shouted in shock for it would have looked as if he had materialized from the darkness itself.

With one last look around the dark night, Abel slipped into the church and moved through the candle lit halls to the room he had left Caterina and Vaclav in. While Abel had been at the estate he had received a reply from the pope. Actually there had been three letters: one was a reply to Abel's letter, another was addressed to Vaclav, and the third was for Caterina. Despite the fact Abel had needed a reply as quickly as possible he swore the damned bird had given away the fact there had been a "terran" in the manor who hadn't been drained of blood.

On entering the room, Abel's eyes swept it to see Vaclav still trying to reassure the girl. Abel crossed the room to them and placed a change of clothes beside Caterina as well as the letter from the pope. "Change and be quick about it," he stated, trying to keep his soft and gentle while relaying the fact they needed to move and fast. "I'm not certain if I was followed and even if I wasn't the Methuselah will be here shortly." Turning to Vaclav, Abel gestured the man out into the hall. Vaclav nodded and followed Abel out into the hall, closing the door behind him. "Here," Abel handed Vaclav the letter from the pope.

"How did you get this so quickly?" asked Vaclav, staring at the letter in amazement.

"It doesn't matter, I just need to know if you will be heading back to Rome with Caterina and myself or not," stated Abel. There was no way he would be able to get Caterina out of here on his own. Well no way to do so without relying on his crusnik form and he really hated to have to use it again. There was no telling if Abel would be able to defeat the crusniks' mind or withstand the temptation to activate the crusnik to eighty percent. Right now wasn't a good time to test his will or to risk this city and all of its people.

Vaclav nodded and opened the letter, reading it quickly. "I have been ordered to be your backup on the journey," Vaclav told Abel even as he continued to read the letter. "Do we have enough time for me to speak with a few of the sisters here?" asked Vaclav. "I don't like the idea of just leaving them without warning." Abel hesitated before he nodded. "Thank you." Vaclav nodded to Abel before he turned and walked off down the hall.

Sighing, Abel leaned up against the wall and rubbed his eyes. This wasn't going to be fun. Gripping the cross he wore, Abel felt a jab of pain. It had been six years since he had left the tomb. With a shake of his head, he realized he was dwelling on matters best left alone.

"You said we need to hurry?" Abel didn't move at the sound of Caterina's question.

"We will move out as soon as Vaclav is ready," stated Abel, still not looking at her. He couldn't bring himself to do so. Just because she hadn't reacted with fear the first time she had seen him doesn't mean she would stay so excepting of him and the existence of the crusnik. Too many had reacted with fear and fled because of what he was. Even if they had seemed excepting of it first they eventually became fearful he would turn on them as well. It was best to not assume friendship; it was best to remain alone.

Just then Vaclav reappeared. "One of the sisters is preparing a carriage," he informed them as he approached. "Abel, can you guard Lady Sforza in the carriage. Your coat and hair stand out at night."

Abel suppressed the urge to scowl and nodded instead. "I understand," he stated. In the end, out of the two of them, Vaclav was the wiser choice to drive the carriage even if Abel hadn't been wearing white or had silvery hair. Abel had never driven a carriage before in his life and he had no desire to ever learn how.

The three of them headed out to where a sister waited in the darkness, holding the horse. Vaclav exchanged a few words with her as Abel opened the door and held out his hand to Caterina, helping her into the carriage. Once she was in Abel slipped in after her and took the seat opposite her. He disliked not being able to see out of the carriage, his night vision was far better than any humans, but he still couldn't risk being in the open. The night was lit with a full moon and even this dark carriage ran the risk of being spotted.

As the carriage lurched forward, Abel felt a familiar wave of motion sickness wash over him. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate on the night. It was times like this he really did prefer walking or taking the train. The problem was trains didn't run this late and they really needed to get out of the city and on their way to Rome as quickly as possible. They would catch the train at the closest town. It would be dawn by then at the very least.

"Are you all right?" Caterina's question cut through Abel's concentration like a lance through the heart. "You look very pale," she observed.

"Please do not speak," Abel stated quietly, not trusting himself to speak loudly at the moment. "I am trying to concentrate on the sounds outside the carriage," he hurriedly explained.

"Fine," pouted Caterina. He heard the rustling of the dark cape she wore as she folded her arms across her chest. This girl was a strange one, this was for sure.

Abel returned his attention to what was going on outside of the carriage. At the moment the only sound was the soft breeze swirling around the carriage and horse before continuing on its ways, the clattering of the horse's hooves against the cobbled ground, and the sounds coming from Vaclav and the carriage. Other than this this streets were almost too silent. There were carriages out even at this time, but very few were. He wasn't shocked. Humans slept at night after all.

The carriage jumped as they left the cobbled streets of the city and started off into the dark night. They were over three miles out when Abel heard the soft beat of feet on the dirt road behind them. He concentrated harder. An unknown number of Methuselah were racing towards the carriage. It seemed Abel had been right, he had been followed.

Opening his eyes, Abel stood and moved towards one of the doors, "Stay here," he told Caterina, glancing at her over his shoulder. Before she could reply, Abel opened and the door and climbed to the top of the carriage, kicking the door shut behind him. Crouching, Abel pulled out his gun and reloaded it.

"What are you doing?" Father Havel demanded from behind Abel. "That is a great way to give us away," he stated, "you should get back into the carriage." Abel ignored him and fired just as a Methuselah leapt out of the darkness and made a grab for one of the doors. "My God," Vaclav jerked the reins, causing the horse to turn sharply and the carriage to nearly topple. Abel slid, grabbing hold of the side of the carriage and firing another shot at the oncoming Methuselah.

"Just focus on the road," Abel said calmly. This was no different than the battle back on Mars; only he didn't have grenades or a sniper rifle, both of which would be useful at the moment. "I will take care of the Methuselah," Abel fired another shot. The bullet at last took down the Methuselah. Another three replaced it. "Damn," Abel muttered under his breath. He fired several more shots, trying desperately to kill the damned Methuselah. One finally managed to get through the wall of bullets, ripping a door off. Quickly Abel slid down the carriage opening the other door and swinging through it. His feet slammed into the Methuselah. The Methuselah shouted in shock and fell out of the carriage. Following him out, Abel fired on several more Methuselah. Where the hell were all these Methuselah coming from?

This was getting ridiculous. There were too many for him to handle on his own in this form. Abel scowled, firing on several more. The carriage swayed dangerously as several of the Methuselah tried to run them off the road. Damn it, they had no choice here. They would have to leave the carriage and hope to dissolve into the forest. Also he couldn't warn them what he was doing without risking the Methuselah to the idea.

Quickly Abel ducked into the carriage and took hold of Caterina before moving out and shouting to Vaclav, "Jump!"

"Wha – are you completely insane?" Vaclav shouted.

"It's been debated," muttered Abel. "Just jump," he shot back. Vaclav hesitated before obeying, Abel leapt after, his speed making it so he landed first and was able to catch Vaclav before he would strike the ground. Quickly Abel pulled the two of them into the dark forest before the Methuselah knew what was happening. He released the two of them only once he was sure they weren't being followed.

"Care to explain what that was about?" asked Vaclav, his voice almost dangerously calm. Abel could see him clearly even in the dark forest. There was anger flashing in his brown eyes and it was more than apparent he was trying to stay calm and not shout at Abel.

"No matter how fast you drove the horse the Methuselah would have kept coming," stated Abel. "There were too many for me to handle, abandoning the road and carriage was the only opinion left to us if the two of you had wished to live." Abel started to walk. "We still need to head for the next town. We will find a sheltered clearing and rest there until dawn."

Abel wasn't tired but he could tell Caterina was almost asleep on her feet as they started off. Vaclav kept a steely silence and Abel was more than happy with it. Traveling with others was rather unnerving as it was. He was used to being alone. After seven hundred years in a tomb without any contact and then spending his time alone outside while guarding the estate, he wasn't really enjoying being with others once more.