Trinity Blood: #1: Past Hidden in a Frozen Gaze
Chapter 13: Nightlord? Part 2: Entrance of Hate and Fear
Esther lips trembled under her hands. She wanted to cry out, to flee from the man who had lied to all of them. How could he be a mass murderer? "Y-you were always a soft hearted fool," Shaun continued, shakily. "The only times you killed so many was when you lost control of the crusnik. If you hadn't stopped your otherside we would have won that war. To-to me you are no one. You aren't my emperor or the man I thought you were as a child. You are we-weak and we, the Methuselah, are strong."
"Enough of this," Abel spoke in a steely voice which seemed to quaver. "Tell me what paths out of the city do you not have covered? There has to be a safe path to get all the ter – humans out of the city without Valdemar noticing."
Shaun hesitated, his glazed eyes locking on Abel. "Th-there is one," and Shaun told him of it. By the end of what he was saying the effects of the truth serum was wearing off. "You lied," Shaun managed to say somewhat clearly. "You're not here just for the Methuselah or that… woman, are you?"
"No," Abel said with a heavy sigh. "I trust them now. Humans are no different from Methuselah and I was a fool to never see this before. Methuselah and humans alike are my people. I will never rule again and have no desire to do so, but I consider them my people as much as I do the Methuselah. You remember this though, so there is no point in telling you anymore, now is there?"
Abel did care. Relief filled Esther making the world spin around her. "Thank God," Esther sent her thanks to God. If Abel hadn't cared, what would she have done then? Who could she have trusted? Edging back the way she'd come, she knew she had to make it seem she'd only just arrived to Abel. Once she was a little ways off she turned and raced back towards him, shouting, "Abel! Abel!" she whipped around the corner and froze at the sight of the unconscious Methuselah.
"What is it, Esther? I thought you were heading back to the hideout," Abel looked at her sternly.
"I was going to," Esther painted, "but it's Cato. He ran off saying he was going to end this himself. I think he's gone after Vlademar, but I'm not certain." Abel stiffened. "What should we do?"
"We're going to split the city between us," Abel began. "Head back get Leon and Asthe or Tres and Ion, I don't want you searching by yourself," there was worry for her in his sorrow filled eyes which made her heart skip a beat. "Go, run as fast as you can and then head up towards the Methuselah part of the city. Head straight there, I will search here and the lake, before joining you."
Esther nodded before turning and racing off through the night. No longer was she thinking on what had happened between Abel and Shaun. The fear in Abel's eyes had been more than enough proof for her. He was the same Father Nightroad she cared for, there was no denying this anymore.
Meanwhile:
Dull throbbing filled Cato's head, beating in time to his heart. What happened? Opening his eyes, Cato was met by only shadow and darkness. "Ah, you're awake," a chilling voice sounded from somewhere before him. A small light flickered to life, funneling in through the small holes in the woven blindfold. Hands as ice gripped Cato's cheeks, pain shot through his jaw and neck as the figure forced his head from side to side. "So you're the boy 'Angel' recruited. Hmm, can't say I'm impressed, but then, how could a mere terran hope to compete with my race?"
"You think Angel will really just leave me here," Cato managed to laugh at the Methuselah. "You're fool then. I'm Angel's partner after all and don't partners mean something special to you blood sucking freaks." Pain lanced through Cato's face, his neck wrenched, and the metallic flavor of blood filled his mouth.
"What is Angel's real name?" snarled the Methuselah. In response Cato spat blood and split into the Methuselah's face. "Tell his name!" the vampire shouted. Cato groaned as he was slammed into the wall. "Why protect him?" snarled the vampire. "He's a 'blood sucker' as well? He's a crusnik," at the vampire's words Cato felt as if his heart had turned to ice. The cold seeped through his veins. No, a crusnik, there was no way he was a crusnik. That would make him – no!
"You're lying! Abel isn't a crusnik, he's an enhanced human!" Abel couldn't be, he couldn't be a crusnik and he sure as hell wasn't a Nightlord. There was no way he could be. There was just no way.
"Abel?" the vampire released Cato. Sliding to the floor, Cato rubbed his throat. "It can't be," muttered the vampire. "Tell me terran, does Angel look twenty and have long, silver hair?" Cato gapped at this. Angel rarely showed his face when he was in a battle. "He stands at six foot three and would be wearing a white coat rimmed in black even if the weather is warm. Is this Angel or not, terran? Does he have an addiction to sugar?"
"H-how do you know what he looks like and what he loves to eat?" Cato demanded. Somehow he managed to get onto his knees, his wrists rubbing against the rope which bound them. "There is no way you can know! You don't know him, he's Abel Nightroad the guardian angel of the humans, the pope's personal agent."
At this laughter filled the room. "Is that what he told you or the pope told you? It's a lie. His real name is Abel Nightlord, the first and only emperor of the Methuselah," every word the vampire uttered sounded to be the truth. How could Angel be the God of Carnage, how could he lie to everyone? Anger was fast replacing Cato's shock and disbelief. Abel had always acted older than he appeared; he cared for the vampires and never killed one. It was starting to make sense now, all of it.
"I'll kill him," Cato growled under his breath. "I'm going to kill him!" he shrieked the words. "Let me go, I will rip him to shreds."
A cold chuckle sounded from the vampire. "I love your spirit kid," the shadow leaned forward and untied the blindfold. As the cloth fell away, Cato was met by a vampire noble with long black hair and auburn eyes. "Promise you will aid me and I will aid you in your revenge by telling you the one way to kill the immortal crusnik."
All he deaths and pain the Nightlords' had caused for humanity flashed before Cato's eyes. He remembered every story passed down and the horrors the middle child had done to Cato's family. "Gladly," Cato half snarled, half grinned an insane grin.
"Very well then," the vampire Cato now recognized as being Valdemar gave him a halfhearted smile. Leaning forward, Valdemar spoke in a hushed voice, "This is what you must do. In order to kill that which can't be killed you will need to behead him and threw his head into the lake, this way he can't regenerate. The fact he trusts you, this means you will be able to get close. Stab him in the heart to paralyze him and then go for the head. You will only have a max of thirty minutes so move quickly."
Cato nodded, still grinning at the thought of taking down the greatest threat humanity has ever known. This was going to be fun. Oh, this was going to be great fun.
(Author's note: Hopefully the next chapter will be longer than these last two have been.
I haven't updated any of my stories (mainly Vehemens Veritas) because last week, around two hours after posting the last chapter, some bad news it my family. Today I managed to get time to write and some will to do so. Of course not being in the best mental state right now I went and forgot Vehemens at home so this is why Past Hidden in a Frozen Gaze is being updated instead.
A request: if you read this story and are one of the people who seems to be following it, please, please leave a review or a comment even if you don't have an account for fanfiction. Comments and reviews help me get motivated to write when I am not in the mood do so.)