wooohoooo! after 2 months i finally updated!! yea i know you all hate me for not undating sooner but oh well! u see i am a very very very very very very very very very very very very busy girl! i have basketball which practically takes over ur life, school, church(that's most important!!!), friends, the boy i love, other stories im working on and i have to work on two solos for my school compettion thingy and i have to draw an artpieve for that too plus i have the dreaded science fair to work on!!! (wow i feels like yesterday that we just had one...time flys by sooo fast!!!XD) okay well enough of my excuse making! (all of them are true by the way!) i'll let ou read the chapter! sorry it's a bit short! im a busy girl!!TToTT

Chapter 25: To Live For Death

Melchisedec pointed the tip of his sword toward Abel as he stated, "Make your choice!"

Abel looked at him flabbergasted. "Is this boy serious?"

Melchisedec grew tired of waiting. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "So what will it be?! Death by the sword or death by my fangs?! You choose!'

"Before I decide, let me ask you a question. Who are you doing this for? For what purpose does my death have in your life?"

"I work for no one. But I wish to please my savior, Mein Herr. He saved me from death: death in the cold mountains of Vanha Suomi. For that, I will repay him by ending you life!"

Abel narrowed his eyes at him. He had no choice but to fight this young boy. "If I can, I will spare his life."

†

Esther limply ran across an outside stone balcony. The secret tunnel had leaded her here. She reached the end of the balcony and grabbed onto the railing. She looked down and over the railing, only to see she was three-stories high. She turned around sharply to see Stella on the outside of the balcony. It was just as she had feared. She had gotten away but only to run into a dead end. "Please, don't kill me. I-I––"

"Shut up, fool. I can't take anymore of your whining." Stella said. "'Please, don't kill me.'" She mocked. She snickered. "What else am I supposed to do? Let you go free?"

"Um, yes?" Esther said. She didn't know why she answered and answered that.

"Foolish fool. All fools are the same aren't they? Fools just answer foolishly and act foolishly, only to end up looking foolish, those foolish fools. And you are no different then those fools." Stella said as she slowly and slyly. She had the most mischievous grin on her face and her hands behind her back.

Esther gulped. She didn't like how this was going. She watched Stella. Her eyes grew wide as she gasped.

Stella had pulled out a gun. She rested the top on her cheek. Her smiled seemed to grow more mischievous.

†

The Auto Jagger swung his axe at Tabitha and Lady Catrina. Lady Catrina grabbed Tabitha and leapt out of the way. She pulled out a shotgun and fired at the Auto Jagger. One of the many bullets hit the Auto Jagger Square in the forehead. Its head jerked back at the force, however, it slowly pulled its head forward and looked at them. Catrina pulled back the trigger to fire again. However, she only heard a click noise. "Damn. I'm out of bullets." She said as she chucked the gun to the side and pulled Tabitha close to her body.

†

"So, Professor, this is the plan?" Leon said.

"Yes. The Rosen Kreuz Orden sent these battleships to both the Vatican and the New Human Empire to make them each think that the other was attacking. However, there's one mistake that they made. These battleships aren't the type that the Methuselah care to use. If we lure each of the battleships to this part of the Vatican," Professor explained as he pointed to Saint Peter's Square on a map of the Vatican, "and with the electricity that can run through these ropes, we can stop them all." He held in his hands the thin-wired rope.

"Can I ask this, who's doing what?" Leon asked with an annoyed attitude.

"I will need Tres, Leon, Kate, and Hugue to direct each of the battleships to Saint Peter's Square. While Vaclav and I set the trap." He said as he stood up straight and put the end of his pipe in between his lips.

"Affirmative." Tres said.

†

Seth, as her Crusnik-self, jumped into the air. Her little wings caught the air and she soared toward a battleship. She held in her hands two giant, red tuning forks. She soared over the ship and as she did the ship turned into statue of salt and slowly disaggregated.

Astharoshe leapt from a wall and pierced a battleship with her spear of Gae Bolg. Electricity sparked around the top of the spear. She pulled the spear out from the battleship and wires, with electricity still sparking on the ends, hug out of the large whole. She landed like a cat on to the ground. She stood up tall and pointed her spear at the front of the battleship. "Aaaaaaahhhh!" She screamed her battle cry and shot a blue blast of plasma at the ship. It hit the ship and smoke rose from the blast as it crash-landed into the ground behind her. She ran and shot a blast at the next one. It hit the bottom of the ship and ripped straight through the top.

Seth changed yet another battleship into a salt mess. She looked over at the tower where Lady Caterina and Tabitha were hidden. It was smoking and the flames had seemed to die out. "They must have thought that I was in that tower and attacked it to kill me. I hope that Lady Catrina and Tabitha are safe!"

†

Abel's glasses slipped off of his nose and fell to the floor with a clank.

"So, Priest," Melchisedec started, mocking Abel's title, "what will it be?"

Abel closed his eyes. He opened them and his face had grown completely serious. "Nanomachine Crusnik 02. Power input level 80 percent." He said. His eyes turned blood red, his fangs poked out from his lips, his silver hair slipped loose from his black ribbon, and his wings broke threw the spider-like cocoon. He gracefully floated toward the ground.

Melchisedec positioned himself to attack or defend himself at any moment. "So the beast has revealed himself." He smiled. "This shall be one heck of a battle."

Abel silently called for his scythe. It appeared and he gripped it in his hand. "I wish not to harm you. Please step aside. You shouldn't be with the likes of him." Abel's scratchy voice spoke.

"I grow impatient for your decision, beast!" Melchisedec shouted. "So I will just have to kill you how I like to: hunt you down for the fun of it, trap you like the little bug you are, and then suck your blood out of your body until there's none left. And when you are finally dead, I shall cut off your head and present it to Mein Herr. He shall be pleased."

Abel narrowed his eyes at the boy. Melchisedec was the same as Ion, in body and attitude. Only Ion was deceived and had found good. Melchisedec had found evil as his home. "Lord, forgive me and please save this poor lost soul." He prayed silently as he gripped his scythe tighter.

†

"Stella, please." Esther gasped as she eyed the gun in Stella's hands.

"Poor, poor, Miss Queenie. All she can do is beg for her life! You hopeless fool!" Stella said as she point the gun at her and took a shot.

Esther flinched as it glided passed her cheek, leaving a scratch to which blood bubbled and trickled down her check. It stained the filthy white habit even more. Tears of fright flowed down her cheeks. "Lord, save me! Please! I beg you!" She prayed.

"Oh, is the fool scared?" She asked with a mocking sense of sympathy. She laughed at Esther.

Esther filled her fists with the skirts of her habit. She glared at Stella. "How can you be so evil? How can you just kill people with such joy! Life is a precious thing! God has given us life to enjoy and to worship Him! How can you waste your life by taking others? If any one is the fool here, it is you, Stella!" She snapped at her.

Stella looked at her with such disgust and surprise. "How dare you speak such words?!" She shouted and fired at Esther's feet. The bullet ricocheted off of the floor of the balcony and flew passed Esther's other cheek. She flinched again. Esther looked up at Stella. Stella looked down at her with anger and spite. "You know nothing of the pain I've suffered! And how Cain rescued me from it all! How I was despised by my family and villagers and how he accepted me." A teardrop splashed onto the ground by Stella's boot. "He didn't see me as an abomination to mankind. I was a witch and more of yet an artificial vampire. But he showed the beauty of my abilities. I will do anything to repay him! Even that means killing!" An insane smile danced across her lips. "I-I-I––"

"You love him. Don't you." Esther asked as she watched Stella. Stella's arm was shaking violently and she was staring at the gun. When Stella had heard Esther's question, she snapped a glare at her.

"You––"

"Don't be alarmed. I knew because I would act the same way." Esther said as she stood up. She leaned on the railing behind her as she placed her hands on her heart. "I too am in love with someone. I'm in love with Abel: the man who wants to kill Cain. So I guess you and I are the same." She said with a smile.

Stella narrowed her eyes at Esther. "Damn you! Don't ever compare me to your foolish self! You are nowhere near my level! You are a weak fool!"

"Still why do you insist that I am a fool? If I am a fool, why do you not kill me?" Esther asked. She stared right into Stella's cold blue eyes. A gust of wind blew. It rustled Stella's long locks of blonde hair and it rustled her locks of red hair.

Stella cracked a smile. "I shall do just that." She raised the gun and pointed it at Esther. She slowly pulled the trigger.

Esther closed her eyes and flinched. She knew it was coming. She heard the explosion of gunpowder in the gun. But the bullet never hit her. She opened her eyes and looked to see Stella onto the floor, the gun held limply in her hands, and a pool of blood coming from out of her chest. Esther immediately rushed to Stella's side. She looked into Stella's pale face. "Why? Why didn't you kill me? Why did you kill yourself?" She asked.

Stella coughed. "You showed me how much sorrow I caused so many people. You showed me how selfish I was being. I could have stopped Cain at any moment. I had that power over him. I could have just came up with a simple plan of me baring his child and his child could finish his plan of taking over the world, but I didn't. I liked the feeling of how I could kill those who had hurt me. I lusted for that feeling more than the feeling of baring Cain's child." She smiled. "I guess this was my fate along. To live and to live for death." She coughed violently. Blood slipped out the corners of her lips. "Just please. Kill Cain. So. That we could… Could live together. Live together in Hell." Her breath faded and eyes rolled to the back of her head. Her grip on the gun left. She was dead….

"Lord, save this poor soul. Save her please. I beg of you." Esther prayed silently.

†

Abel jabbed Melchisedec in the stomach with the end of his scythe. Sweat dripped Abel's brow. Melchisedec limply fell over his scythe. It was an easy battle for the most part. Abel just had to dispel all of Melchisedec's traps and when Abel had gotten close enough to him, he jabbed him in the gut with the end of his scythe.

"He was still just a child after all." A familiar voice said.

Abel spun around to see Cain as he stood in a darkened door way. His burnt red eyes grew wide at the sight of his elder brother.

"How good of it to see you, Abel." He slyly said.

Abel narrowed his eyes. "CAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"