Chapter 11

***Note: Thank you all again for the patience and suggestions. I really like getting feedback from people. I also love the fact that no one has hated on me since I started fanfictioning (if that is the right word for it), so anyone out there can still be the first! My midterms are almost over, but hey, it's already November, so I should probably put another one up. Thanks again, and remember to review and suggest.

"Ion, wake up! Esther is gone!"

Ion's peaceful sleep was interrupted by the frustrated cries of the weary Ex-Agent Nightroad. His gloved hands shook Ion violently.

"Wait, what?" He mumbled sleepily, then realized the magnitude of the issue as his eyes snapped open. "WHAT? How?" Ion pushed Abel aside and jumped off the bed. He ran to the room next door and saw the window wide open, the curtain billowing in the wind. Through the window, he could see the fountain as always, but he also saw the mutilated remnants of Elisa.

"How did you lose her? How could you!" Abel shouted at him. Ion's arms hung uselessly to his sides, feeling his guilt triple after last night.

"I-I..." Ion started, but could not continue as his voice began to crack.

"Do you have any idea what I had to go through just to set this up?" Abel forced the Earl to face him, and then Ion saw his face. Abel's glasses were dirty and cracked, one of the lenses was missing. His face was cut, bruised, bleeding. Part of his loose, silvery hair were frizzy and had dried blood sticking the locks together, no doubt the blood had belonged to him. Most of his clothes were tattered as well, but what struck Ion the most were the intense, burning eyes that drilled into Ion's very soul, accusing him of utter failure.

However, Abel's gaze was broken when his glanced over at the window, then let his eyes trail over to the bed. The sheets seemed as if they were thrown about, but he saw enough. There were several strands of brown hair here and there as well as red ones. Abel released the trembling Methuselah and approached the bed, picking up a brown sliver and examining it closely.

"Ion," Abel broke the silence after a moment, "can you recognize this scent?" He held up the hair. Ion looked at it and took it from Abel, waving it slightly to waft the smell.

"No, or at least not that I recall. It reeks of Methuselah and psuedoblood." His eyes narrowed. "But it also smells like a heavy chemical, or something. It's strange, like a newborn covered in blood and melted rubber. What could it be?"

As Ion stood thinking, Abel furrowed his brow, searching the room with his eyes until he spotted something on the curtains. He strode over and tried to pick it up while Ion looked on curiously.

Abel gasped as the object he touched cut into his skin. It was an extremely fine thread, and it was sharp. Immediately, he knew.

"Ion, we have to move, now!" He turned to the door.

"Wait! What do you mean?" Ion asked impatiently. "Who is behind this?" He huffed and crossed his arms, confused and furious. Abel sighed, never relaxing his frown.

"It's Dietrich." Abel said with slow disdain before leaving the horror-struck Earl.

Abel had already marched outside, his shadowy figure stretching lazily from the sunset. Ion ran after him and stopped him at the fountain.

"Abel! I'm sorry! I thought no one would look for us here!" He tried to explain. "But we didn-"

"Do you think that matters now?" Abel cut him off, shouting in anger. Ion cowered slightly at the menacing glare the priest shot him. "This whole time I was going after Von Kamphur and looking for backup. I could only find Hugue and Leon, but it's not enough!" At this point, Abel's face could not stop twitching and he grabbed Ion by the collar in a threatening manner. "Caterina and Tres have disappeared after disbanding AX, and I have half a mind to get on my knees and beg the Inquisition for help! What in God's name were you doing?" He screamed and shook the trembling Earl. In several huffs, Abel scoffed and dropped Ion, making him land on his rear on the dusty ground next to the slashed remains of Elisa. "I don't care what you do now, just don't get in my way."

With that, he ran off, kicking up dust as his feet struck the ground. Ion sat there, watching the last of the clouds dissipate. His fingers clenched the dirt tightly, leaving claw marks.

"I'll find you Esther, I swear it on the Fortuna name." He muttered with gritted teeth.

Hours later, though it seemed like days, Esther woke up shivering and uncomfortable. The moment her consciousness was clear, she remembered everything that happened before sleeping: the failed attempt to hide at the Manor, the kidnapping, the carriage ride, Dietrich. She shut her eyes tight until it hurt and shook her head, trying to forget. He had drugged her before taking advantage of her, and the filthy feeling of humiliation and emptiness hurt her from within her chest. Dietrich, her best friend and one of her worst enemies, had come back from the dead as a Methuselah and almost had his way with her. She could not imagine if he did anything else to her after she passed out.

"Esther Blanchett," a voice echoed, "status report?" It was deep and monotonous, a familiar voice.

Esther turned about, but was unable to see. She felt cold, flat stones underneath her and a chilly air. It was like being in a prison back in the empire with Ion. But this time...

"I-is that you, Father Tres?" Esther began unsteadily.

She heard approaching footsteps and she flinched slightly when a light shone on her. Upon opening her eyes through the blinding light, she nearly cried in relief.

Standing before her was Tres Iqus, the same as ever, staring down on her.

"Positive." Tres replied. He saw Esther stand up quickly in a daze, and almost falling before he caught her and steadied her. She wrapped her arms around herself, confused at the fact that she was not wearing her tattered lingerie or reeked of blood from her encounter with Dietrich. Instead, she noticed she wore a white half-buttoned shirt that was large enough to cover half of her thighs while the much-too-long sleeves dragged uselessly from her hands. A heavier jacket was on top of her while she was sleeping, but what really surprised her was how she was not wearing underwear. However, more important issues were at hand.

"What are you-"

"I asked you 6.34 seconds ago. I repeat, what is your status report?" His eyes made whirring sounds as they focused on the half-naked redhead. With his arm sensors, he felt a burning fever raging through her entire body.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered, wrapping the clothes around herself tighter, "where are we? How did you get here?"

"We are currently located underground, but my database cannot retrieve any more information. Something is interfering with my connections. It has been this way since the Duchess and I were captured."

"What?" She interrupted. "By who?"

"Contra Mundi. However, I had lost visual of Lady Caterina as of nine days, three hours, and twenty-two minutes ago. My systems have been on and off since and I cannot see very well, but I do not know whether I have been tampered with or not." He took off his priest robe and draped it over her shoulders. She took it gratefully, thanking him as he began to scan the dark room. By now, her eyesight had adapted to the dark and she realized she was wearing Dietrich's shirt and jacket. She scowled in disgust, but could not take them off in her current state. Esther pulled the robe around her and hitched it up so she could move around freely and fully clothed.

"All right then, we need to find a way out of here and get back to the Empire." She said as she tightened a buckle on the robe. Her feet were still bare and numb against the floor, but she knew time was of the essence. "What was the last thing you remember?"

"The Duchess and I left AX in an effort to locate and take down Contra Mundi ourselves, after too much frustration and political debate with her step-brother and most of the Vatican. Before leaving, she uploaded a humanoid-adrenaline software, similar to Methuselah haste, into my database, but it will only activate under the correct circumstances. Several days later, we had located Cain, but were taken by surprise when Von Kamphur ambushed us. I was deactivated and have not been fully online until now." He stated. Already, he had scanned the window-less, barred room with his glowing left eye.

Esther shivered. The jacket and robe was not nearly enough to keep her warm. She felt a cold in her bones that rattled her insides, but her skin was feverish as her body tried to cope with hunger and weakness. Tres' eyes focused on her sluggish movements as they tried to find a way out. He stopped examining the stony walls and approached her instead.

"Father Tres, I think I found a way out!" Esther exclaimed excitedly. Her fingers were dirtied with rust and mildew, revealing a thick padlock what seemed to be a small door. "We should-"

Esther yelped mid-sentence as Tres lifted her in swoop. She blinked, bewildered. Surprisingly, he was warm and had firm muscles that gently held her steadily. He did not feel as cold or metallic as she had presumed; he seemed human.

"Miss Blanchett, we should be quiet," he spoke as he adjusted her weight in one arm, "or else someone will hear us." His eyes scanned the lock, whirring and beeping. "My infrared and metal sensors are still dull. Switching from search mode to humanoid visual."

"Humanoid visual?" Esther whispered curiously. Only once or twice he had changed modes according to actions, not sight."

"It is part of the software the Duchess had installed into me. It allows me to see the world in human eyes: a basic program when no other one will work."

Esther could barely see as it was and wondered how he would be able to see. His glowing red eye dimmed to black. A moment later, she felt his other arm move as his pectoral and bicep muscles flexed. A sound of scraping metal echoed slightly in the room. Then, a thud came as the rusted hit the floor. Immediately, Esther felt a rush of air and lightness as Tres pushed the door open loudly and rushed off with Esther in both arms.

"Father Tres! Whatever happened to being quiet?" Esther cried. She clutched his arm tightly, dazed from the quick movement and the pounding of his boots on the stone floor.

"There was no other way. I am unarmed and damaged while you are still not fully able-bodied. The best way is to move and get out quickly before anyone catches us." Tres explained.

Sure enough, Esther noticed a dim light several meters ahead. It looked like streaming rays from the underside of a door. Tres shifted Esther again and used a free hand to throw the door open. Light seemed to blind both the Gunslinger and the Saint for a moment. She did not realize when Tres set her down, allowing her to support her weight on his arm.

A large room before them was illuminated by what seemed like hundreds of candles. Dark stones and bricks walled all sides and had moss and mildew seeping from between the cracks. There were dead, dried flowers in bundles everywhere and a large metal container with machinery behind it.

For a moment, Esther grew speechless, but her eyes widened in fear and she found her self holding her breath when she saw a familiar face in the glass of the metal container: Lilith's face.

It was a tomb.

A tall man with silvery hair and a white suit stood in front of the coffin with folded hands, as if to silently pray.

"Father...Nightroad?" Esther called hesitantly.

The figure turned around and smiled that same kind smile. Esther almost cried in relief and ran to him until Tres spoke.

"Miss Blanchett," he raised a bare arm before her.

"Huh?" She looked at him. She did not notice he was wearing the remains of a tattered and dirty shirt until now in this lighted room. The robe he lent her was ripped and had several bullet holes in it.

"That is not Abel Nightroad." He said, his eyebrows narrowing slightly for the very first time.

She looked back at the Abel look-alike as he clapped loudly with his gloved hands.

"Bravo! Well done!" He laughed at the confused red head. "It took you two all night to get out of that primitive dungeon. It makes me wonder if you two are doing naughty things in there." He gave a smirk, amused at his dirty joke.

"My Lord, he is ready." A voice came from the side of the room. Esther gave a horrified gasp when Von Kamphur came in and bowed before the suited madman.

"Bring him in." Cain said with a flick of his wrist. Issak motioned to the side and a cloaked man, waltzed out, his hood hiding his face.

"I believe you recognize my old friend." Cain gestured to the cloaked figure as he pulled his hood off. "This is-"

"R-Radu!" Esther breathed.

Indeed, Radu stood there as if he had never left this world. His black-blue hair draped around his pale, refined face and he looked at the two calmly, never expressing a thought.

"Now, little dear, that's rude, interrupting me like that." Cain said crossly. "Mr. Barvon, would you please punish her accordingly."

"As you wish, Master." Radu spoke. In a flash, he appeared before them and knocked Tres clear across the room, forcing his mechanized body into an emergency shutdown as he landed on the ground. Radu stepped closer to Esther, who was too terrified to move or speak. He disappeared for a second and before Esther could think he had her arms in a tight grip behind her back, stretching her joints enough to make her scream.

"Now, now, Radu," Cain called, "that is not nearly enough a punishment for this little brat. Make sure she remembers never to cross the man who will destroy the world." His face twisted into a malicious grin, revealing sharp canines.

"Of course," Radu obliged to Esther's fear. She cast him a look of pure terror, but his frozen face showed no mercy when she felt her wrists grow hotter instantly. A blue flame burst from the one bare hand that trapped her small ones. The fire scorched her wrists and brought searing pain which everyone heard as Esther screamed at the top of her lungs. Radu had already stopped burning her hands, but he tightened his grip and felt the top layer of her skin crunch under his own.

Esther struggled, making whimpers and gasping breaths. Radu drew close to her ear.

"Please, save Ion."

She held her breath for a moment at his words, but once she glanced at him she almost cried out again when she saw him opening his mouth wide. His free hand clamped her mouth shut. She could only give a pained, muffled cry when his teeth pierced her neck. After several gulps, she fell limp onto the ground, paler than ever.

"Excellent." Issac praised his friend as Radu wiped the blood off his lips. "I'm glad we decided to keep this one, my Lord."

"Well, then, I will retire to my room." Cain yawned. "Please take care of our guests."

"Of course, Lord Cain." Von Kamphur bowed as Cain left. He turned back to Radu. "Now, then, your next assignment is to bring me that nuisance, Abel Nightroad. Do anything otherwise and you will go straight back to Hell. I made sure of that." Von Kamphur smirked.

Radu frowned, feeling his heart skip a beat on its own. He knew. He knew Issak had placed a chip into his heart and it could stop beating anytime he wanted. However, he also knew that this was his last chance at salvation and repentance. Hell was, after all, not a comforting thought.