Chapter 8
Abel woke up again the next morning and just stared up at the sky. The wounds that the thorny vines had given him had healed during his sleep and he no longer felt weak. That made him happy, but what truly made him happy was what else had happened that night before he passed out.
He finally admitted that he loved Rose, and that she returned his love and sealed it with a kiss. A kiss that she held until he passed out.
He then jumped a bit as he felt something moving on his chest.
He looked down and smiled at what he saw.
Still asleep on his chest, her head over his heart and an arm across his torso, was Rose herself. She was sleeping peacefully on him as if he was a pillow.
"Glad to see that you're awake." Esther said as she sat up from sleeping on the ground.
He nodded at the queen and then looked back at Rose. "I'm glad that she was there to save me last night." He whispered so that he couldn't wake his Rose.
Esther smiled back and opened her bag. She broke off a chunk of bread and handed it to Abel. He took the bread and started eating. He was starving and didn't want his growling stomach awaken his sleeping angel.
My sleeping angel? He smirked a bit at the phrase. I rather like the sound of that.
Seth soon woke up and smiled at her brother, giggling as she noticed how Rose was sleeping on him.
Soon after, Rose finally woke up and smiled as she snuggled with his chest. He chuckled softly as he looked at her. She then looked up and smiled at Abel. "Hey."
"Hey yourself." He couldn't stop smiling at her.
She laughed softly and snuggled him. "I'm so glad your okay. I thought for a moment that..." She was stopped when Abel placed a finger on her lips.
He then shook his head. "It takes a lot more then blood loss to kill me."
She smiled and kissing his finger, which made him smile.
"You guys are so cute together!" Seth said happily as she giggled.
Esther just smiled as she ate her share of bread.
Abel just stuck his tongue out at his sister, who did the same back to him. Rose just laughed at the two siblings being silly.
It was about an hour later and the group had packed up and continued onward through the forest by the exit they found last night.
Rose and Abel were holding each other's hand as they walked. Rose talked more about her other powers. Like listening in on conversations through windows by using her claws and that she didn't need an activation code to turn on her powers. Her crusnik side activated whenever she was incredibly stressed or angry. It never worked if she was scared. And she could easily slip in and out of the crusnik state very easily.
By late afternoon, they finally reached a city called Lauria.
"That means we are only about a third of the way to Rome." Esther said as they all sat down at a cafe.
The other's nodded in agreement and decided of what to eat. They all avoid bread and water, having been eating it for the past few days.
"Father Nightroad?" Abel jumped as he heard his ear piece suddenly go off. "Father Nightroad? Are you there? Where in God's name are you?"
"Abel? Is everything okay?" Rose asked as she noticed that he looked a little jumpy.
"Yes Rose. I'm fine. It's just my communicator ear piece." He said as he pointed at the metal clip on his ear. "I guess the forest made my communicator lose signal and caused Sister Kate to panic." He chuckled a bit as he smiled at her.
Rose nodded and then continued eating her soup.
"You better let Sister Kate know that we are okay." Esther said as she looked at him.
Abel nodded and stood up from his seat. He kissed Rose on the cheek and the went off to find a place where he could talk to the panicking sister. He soon found an alley and pressed the button to speak into the ear piece. "Yes Sister Kate. I'm here."
"WHERE THE BLOOD HELL HAVE YOU BEEN NIGHTROAD?!!!" She yelled into his ear.
He screamed in pain and gripped his ringing ear. "Sister Kate! Must you yell? You did that right in my ear!"
"Sorry Abel but we were all starting to worry about you and the girls. We lost your signal two nights ago and thought the worse had happened." She said as she calmed down. "And then we got this report of thunder erupted over the Forest of Promise. What the hell happened to you?"
"Well first off. We found the vampire murderer. Her name is Rose. She's....Like me....She's a crusnik. A brilliant and powerful one." He said as he leaned against the wall.
"You found her? That's great!"
"We were on our way back to Rome by train when we got attacked by Von Kampfer. For some reason, my brother wants Rose. Von Kampfer kept calling her 'little mouse' for some reason. Made my skin crawl now that i think about it."
"The Rosen Kreuz attacked?" Sister Kate exclaimed. "She must be important then if the Contra Monde is sending his agents out to get her."
"I think so too." He sighed softly at the mere thought of it. "But whatever the reason he wants Rose, i don't care. He can't have her."
"Whoa. Calm down Abel! Why are you so....OH MY LORD!" It suddenly dawned on her why he talked like that. "You fell in love with her didn't you?!"
"Was it that obvious?"
"Well it kinda was from how you described her and how defensive you just were just now when you thought of your brother taking her from you." She said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Abel sighed out of embarrassment. "It sort of just....happened! I swear! One thing lead to the next and then next thing i know, we're kissing after she destroyed a vampire that was trying to kill me!" He said as he walked around in circles. "I have to admit though that it was pretty nice seeing her asleep on my......"
"That's besides the point Nightroad." Sister Kate interrupted. "What matters is getting Miss Rose to the Vatican where she can be safe. The Iron Maiden is close to your location. I'll have the captain steer the ship in your direction and we'll pick you up later tonight."
Abel nodded. "Very well then Sister Kate. If you insist that is the safest way to reach Rome."
"Indeed it is Nightroad. We'll pick you and the girls up outside the city near night fall. Is that alright?"
"Yes that's fine. The sooner Rose is safe, the better." Abel said as he looked out into the street.
"Alright then. And Father Nightroad....DON'T BE LATE!" She then shut off the communication to end the conversation.
Abel sighed and made his way back to the cafe.
Later that day, the group was outside the city limits, waiting for the Iron Maiden to come and pick them up. They were all waiting in a field looking up at the sky.
Seth was picking flowers and weaving them into odd things.
Abel was sitting with Rose and they were having a entertaining game of thumb war. They made up a rule were the loser has to kiss the winner. Which proved to be fun since Abel always seemed to lose and had to kiss Rose.
Esther was staring up at the darkening sky, looking for any sign of the battleship that was to come.
It wasn't until it was completely dark when the airship finally lowered to the ground and picking the four of them up.
"Welcome to the Iron Maiden." Said a blonde woman in white nun robes. "You must be Rose." She said as she nodded at the girl.
"Yes i am. But who are you?" Rose asked as she shook the woman's hand.
"I am Sister Kate Scott." She said as she bowed to them. She then looked up at Abel and smirked. "At least you made it on time Father Nightroad."
"I had to remind him." Esther said as she dropped her bag by the door.
Seth giggled. "He was being distracted by Rose."
Abel turned red in the face and looked away. "Seth! Stop embarrassing me."
Seth just laughed more and Rose just smiled at her priest.
Kate smiled softly and shook her head. "What are we going to do with you Abel?"
All the girls laughed as Abel's face turned even redder. He then joined in the laughing as the air ship took off into the sky.
Sister Kate showed them around the ship and then brought them to their rooms. For some bizarre and probably coincidence, Abel and Rose were showed to their own room. Rose didn't mind but Abel felt a little uncomfortable.
But the uneasiness soon went away when she kissed him and went to take a shower.
He took off his cape and gun holster and flopped on the bed. Ah yes. No more sleeping on the dirt. Oh thank you heavenly father.
He soon found himself falling into a deep sleep and didn't wake up when his ear piece went off. He was extremely tired having to be woke up in the middle of the night for two nights in a row by vampire attacks and having to guard the girls for the past two days.
Rose soon came out and smiled at him. He's got to be exhausted from having to protect us. She said as she went over to her bag and grabbed some cloths that she knew where clean. She put on some black slacks, and a black spaghetti strap shirt that hugged her slim figure very nicely.
She then went over to the bed and managed to pull the covers out from under the out cold priest and snuggle close to him. She pulled the covers over them and curled up with is chest. Just like in the forest, her head was on his heart and an arm was across his torso. In reaction to feeling her on him, Abel's arm wrapped around her waist and held her close to him.
Both slept peacefully in each others arms.
Else where, a certain vampire wasn't very happy with what his scanners were telling him.
"Damn it!" Dietrich yelled as he slammed his fist on the counter. "Von Kampfer failed and now she's in the hands of the Vatican!"
"And i suppose her falling for my brother doesn't count for anything now does it?" Cain said as he sat in a chair, drinking blood wine.
"It was bound to happen. I just knew it would." Dietrich said as he stared at the monitors. "Her heart rate, the adrenalin rush, the obvious fact that she's with the priest. It was bound to happen that she was going to fall for him."
"Indeed." Cain set his glass on the arm of the chair and came up behind Dietrich. "But does she truly love him for who he is? Or because he looks like me?"
Dietrich glanced at his lord. "Are you sure about that? I mean she did hit you with that arrow and stole your mother's pendent."
"Actually, it's her's. I just took it from her while we were doing the experiments on her." He said as he smirked at the screens. "I didn't know it had that much meaning to her. She sure did put up quite a remarkable fight."
"Indeed she did." Dietrich nodded in agreement. "She is quiet a remarkable being. A crusnik with the power to shoot off lightning arrows, sense sound vibrations with her claws, and sense oddities in the air around her. Not to mention the she doesn't need to say an activation code to turn on the crusnik powers." He placed his hand on a file that was sitting on the control panel next to him. "I wonder what your mother was thinking?"
Cain smirked and chuckled as he stared at a screen that showed a video file of his little mouse asleep in some sort of hibernation chamber. Indeed. What were you thinking Lilith? Why did you create such a beautiful crusnik?
