Theft of Thine Heart
Chapter Eleven
The AX seemed to be quite busy lately with its members going on more missions than ever it seemed. Lady Caterina, Abel and Esther along with Tres had gone to Carthage on a secret mission that even she hadn't been told. However that may have been because she had still been in the medical ward at the time. Because of the change dawning on her she found herself feeling quite weak often, unable to stay in the sun for long periods of time, and because of this she needed to have a blood transfusion of at least a pint every few days which was why she had been stuck there longer than necessary. Still, she really wanted to go join them. Rain couldn't understand how she had come to trust Abel Nightroad so easily and it both infuriated and scared her. Not to mention her sudden need to want to help these people. Perhaps she had gotten used to the feeling…or perhaps she was enjoying having a reason for living other than parting people from their purses? A reprise from her thoughts came in the form of Sister Kate crackling into appearance in front of her.
Rain sat on the crisp sheets of the white covered bed, wearily watching a trail of blood work its way through the plastic tubing leading into her arm. Part of her was morbidly curious to watch while the other part of her wished to rip it out, but knew by doing so would leave her feeling drained for the rest of the day. The fizzing of static in the air announced Sister Kate's appearance, the blonde haired nun snapping into life before her with a smile that dimmed slightly at the blood transfusion occurring. It was quickly forgotten though and her smile brightened; much like everyone else, no one really wanted to mention what was going on.
"There you are Rain! Lady Caterina has requested that you join Father Nightroad and Sister Blanchett in Carthage, I have come to pick you up."
Rain had to smile at the nun as elation made her heart momentarily faster.
"About time I got something to do! Any reason in particular?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, wondering just what the catch was.
Kate let out a slightly nervous laugh as she looked away, rubbing her hands behind her back, "w-well there may be some Methuselah in Carthage that Lady Caterina would like your help with?"
Rain almost twitched, of course there had been some sort of catch to her seemingly innocent day trip out.
"If I had known how hot this place would be I wouldn't have wanted to come," Rain grumbled as she trudged after Abel and Esther through the streets of Carthage.
"It isn't that bad!" Abel chuckled merrily, "I'm sure some orange juice will cheer you up."
Rain hit him over the head, "I'm not a child! Besides, it needs ice for me to be anything near content."
Esther shook her head at the two.
It wasn't until they were under a cool, shaded parasol sipping chilled orange juice, that Rain finally sighed in content, looking out across the sunny place. Already she could feel the heat and sunlight beginning to wear at her but at least she wasn't going to burst into flames...yet anyway. This thought only served to land mentally as she slumped in her seat, eyes downcast.
"Are you alright Rain?" asked Abel worriedly, the almost comical sight of him stuffing his mouth with donuts whilst adding vast amounts of sugar to his tea, along with supposedly looking through binoculars made her smile slightly.
Shaking her head lightly, she sipped at her orange juice as she looked out across the ocean, a perfect view, "It's just a bit bright..."
There were only small differences but to Rain they were huge. She couldn't stand out in the sun for too long or she would start to feel lightheaded, if she didn't have a blood transfusion every few days she would be too weak to fight, her night vision and senses had improved also, just another sign of her changing. Rain almost jumped as a hand fell over hers on the table. Looking at the priest with wide eyes, he smiled back at her, patting her hand before sitting back and flipping open his pocket watch.
"Oh, that time already! I best be going."
"Wait!" Esther leapt up, "if you are going to arrest those vampires then shouldn't I come along too?"
Abel however had already walked off, waving over his shoulder at them, "who said I was going to arrest them? Now just wait for me here, please."
The two women watched him leave before Rain's eyes turned back to Esther, said nun's hands curled tightly at her side and a defiant look on her face.
"You know, if the goofball says so, you should listen to him," she commented offhandedly, knowing where the nun's thoughts strayed.
The red haired girl blinked before shaking her head, determination already alight in her eyes as she curled her hand into a fist, "no, they all just look down on me, I have to prove myself. And why do you keep calling him goofball?" she finally noticed the common nickname, "you should call him Father Nightroad like everyone else."
"Nope," Rain replied stubbornly, still drinking her orange juice slowly whilst wondering why the girl was still staring at her, "what?"
"Aren't you coming?"
"Nope."
Esther sighed and left by herself leaving Rain sat in the shade. If the girl wanted to go get herself into trouble that was her own problem. However as minutes passed in her solitude a small niggling voice in the back of her head was scolding her. Maybe she shouldn't let Esther go off on her own. Then again, the girl had to learn that sometimes you shouldn't get involved. Growling at herself and the two Vatican members for making her like this, Rain set her empty glass down and followed in the direction they had vanished.
By the time Rain arrived on the scene of the privately rented apartment, she was surprised to see a small blonde haired boy with large blue eyes stood alongside his opposite; tall and with short blue hair not unlike her own, a cigarette smoking between his lips. Seriously, how many people smoked these days? Both of them appeared to be dressed in rich looking clothing that pointed them out as not belonging in Carthage. The two Methuselah, mostly the smaller one who appeared to have injured his shoulder, was angrily yelling at Abel who looked rather nervous, waving his hands slightly while Esther stood behind him looking both angry and upset. That was when she heard the sound of tanks drawing close. Whipping round, her eyes widened at the sight of the Inquisition heading towards them. This would not end well.
Slipping inside the house through an open window, they all turned their eyes on her, the small Methuselah looking shocked at another person appearing at their hideout.
"Rain!" Abel sighed in annoyance, oddly quite serious now and looking almost agitated, "why are you-"
She had been about to reply with some dry, witty comment when her acute hearing picked up the faint click in the distance, perhaps these changes her body was going through was handy after all, "Shut up and get down!"
Immediately everyone hit the deck, Abel pushing Esther down. Not a moment later a tank shell shot into the house, tearing away part of the wall and sending debris down on those inside as they took cover.
"It's the Inquisition," Rain answered with a grimace as she pushed herself back up, dusting herself off and pulling at the collar of her jacket.
Abel nodded in understanding before turning to Esther, "please take care of them both," his eyes turned to Rain also, "take them to the underground waterway."
The blue haired thief paused, glancing out of the window before back at him, an unspoken question on her face. There was no way he could face the might of the Inquisition, and despite how much she hated said group and would rather be several continents from them, she wasn't eager to leave the idiot priest. Abel felt a warm feeling in his chest at her concern, his eyes warming as he adjusted his glasses on his face.
"Go, I will hold them off," he smiled at her, "it's nice to see you care, Rain."
A light blush fell onto her face as she blinked at him before she cleared her throat, striding past him quickly, "like I'd care about a goofball."
Moving down the emergency stairs as quickly as they could, the smaller Methuselah obviously injured by silver judging by the slow healing, Rain led the way with Esther who kept shooting the two backwards glances.
"Oh! They are the Earl of Memphis, Ion Fortuna and the Baron of Luxor, Radu Barvon," Esther quickly introduced the two Methuselah.
"And who are you?" Ion asked through gritted teeth, his angry expression not so much as flickering, "answer terran!"
Twitching at the boy's tone, she shot him a scowl, "learn some manners and I might," Rain shot back much to the boy's surprise and then anger.
"Why you-"
However Radu stopped any furious language from his friend. Seeing this, the thief smirked slightly.
"My name is Rain O'Neil if you must know."
Reaching a boat in the underground dock, Radu vanished to get it ready leaving them with the injured and still annoyed Methuselah, Ion Fortuna. Seeing that he was still in pain, Esther offered to help change his bandages however the proud boy would have none of it. Sighing in annoyance, Rain stood over the kneeling two, arms crossed as she looked down at Ion who met her eyes head on.
"What do you want, terran?" he growled lowly.
"Stop being difficult," Rain answered simply.
He blinked, "d...difficult?!" he almost squeaked.
"You don't want to keep having to rely on your friend do you?" she wasn't taunting him, merely stating a fact that actually made the Methuselah look away as her words hit a sore spot, "then allow Esther to change your bandages."
With that she turned and left to sit down a way away, ignoring them mostly. Ion glared at the back of her head however allowed Esther to tend to his shoulder. He was quite surprised by how tender she actually was in treating his wound, even more so by the kind smile after wards.
"She's a strange terran," Ion muttered quietly to Esther as said nun made to work on his bandaged shoulder.
"Hmm?" Esther blinked before shaking her head with a quiet laugh, "yes well, Rain is definitely a character."
Ion eyed up said woman from a distance, judging her appearance first. From the black trousers and long sleeved, white shirt she wore to the sleeveless jacket, she looked like an oddball between the two Vatican members. She clearly wasn't part of the Vatican yet seemed to be tagging along with them. Not to mention, there was something about her that made him uneasy. Those grey eyes of hers were penetrating but almost so as if they looked through him, and somehow she had managed to hear the tank shot from a distance! He also noted that there was no uneasiness around him from her, much like the silver haired priest Abel, perhaps the pair of them had been around Methuselah before?
"There, that wasn't so hard," Esther almost beamed at her handiwork as she leant backwards.
Ion was surprised by how quickly it was over, blinking and looking from his shoulder to the nun before him. Perhaps these terran weren't so bad after all. Rain's eyes widened as several Inquisition men in diving suits leapt out from the water around them, drawing knives as they surrounded the three.
"Get back!" Rain yelled, throwing out her hand as she drew her sword with the other.
Rain instantly was up, her enhanced strength easily tossing the guy that tried to hold her, back into the water, startling him the most. Her eyes widened at the sight of one of them about to slice Ion's wrist with a silver dagger however she had little to do as the Inquisition men were suddenly engulfed in blue flames. Radu appeared, a blue flame hovering in his hand. Was he one of these rare Methuselah like her father? However the thief's mind was elsewhere as she noticed Esther eyeing him warily, suddenly drawing her gun and pointing it at Radu.
"Get away from him your Excellency! Baron of Luxor, when you spoke of the Radical faction, you were talking about yourself weren't you?"
To say Rain was confused wasn't an understatement. However the fanged smirk on his face was enough for her.
