Welcome to page 294. (Unedited)
Trinity Blood: Book 3: Vehemens Veritas
Chapter 44: Trinity, Part 1: Beginning of the End
Rolling over, Eliza tried to sleep. Nightmares had plagued her mind all night. She couldn't get the image of Dietrich's grin out of her mind. Hot tears slid down her face. The laughing face of a stranger swam before her eyes. She'd thought it her daddy at first, but his hair had been all wrong. He hadn't been her daddy at all. Then he'd gone with only the order to control her and capture someone called 02.
A dark shape appeared in the doorway and just stood there. "Sir?" the yeniçeri asked. Her voice was soft, a whisper.
"I'll be going soon," it was her daddy. "Go, I'd like to be alone with her."
"Sir!" The sound of the yeniçeri leaving soon followed.
"Eliza," her bed sank as her daddy sat down at the every edge.
Eliza closed her eyes. Right then she wanted her daddy to think she was fast asleep.
"I'll be leaving soon," daddy's voice came as a horse whisper.
Leaving? Why would he be leaving? Her daddy never left on such short notice. Normally Eliza had several weeks' knowledge he'd be gone and he only left so quickly if something came up at the front. Even then he would've waited until the morning to tell her and then gone off with his soldiers.
"I'm not certain I'll be coming back this time." Her daddy's hand brushed several strands of hair from her face. "More than anything, I want you to have a bright future. No fear of war, no fear of lose, and the freedom of choice. For this to be I know there must be peace and I must come home." His lips touched her cheek. "You're my angel, Eliza. I love you. Stay safe, my little angel."
The bed lifted. The sound of her daddy walking away soon followed. Eliza's eyes snapped open. Not return? He couldn't not return! It wasn't possible.
Eliza kicked off her sheets. Rolling from her bed, her eyes locked on the door. Her daddy was already gone. She landed cat-like on the floor before leaping to her feet. Racing towards the door, one thought scurried around her mind. She had to follow him, she had to keep her daddy with her. It didn't matter if there was never peace. All she wanted was her daddy! Okay, and ice-cream.
To Eliza's relief her daddy was only just leaving their apartments. She raced after him, making certain she stayed behind him. Her daddy turned. Quickly Eliza ducked behind a box, heart racing.
"I could've sworn…" her daddy trailed off, sounding a little confused. The sound of him starting off soon echoed down the hall to her.
Peering around her hiding place, Eliza saw her daddy moving down the hall. She darted out and raced to another cover. Every time she moved she did this. From time to time her daddy glanced behind him. It was sheer luck she'd been in cover every time he did this.
Before too long her daddy stopped. Eliza stayed behind what little cover she had and watched him look around. He slipped into a room. Heart hammering, Eliza edged towards the door. It was a room she'd never been allowed within. She'd always wanted to see what lay beyond the steel door, but had never been able to open it. This time the door was open. Her daddy hadn't closed it after entering.
Holding her breath, Eliza peered into the room. The lights were nonexistent in all but one part of the room, the far side. She slipped in, her bare feet making no sound on the freezing stone floor. She tip-toed over to a pillar and knelt down, peering around it, one small hand on the smooth stone, she watched.
Eliza's daddy appear in the light. On the dais before him was a strong capsule. Flowers were all around the capsule in might colors and there was a tapestry just behind it of a beautiful woman. Her golden eyes looked down upon Eliza's daddy. Four blue wings spread behind her and arms out stretched as if to embrace someone.
"Lilith," her daddy began, resting his hand on the capsule, "this might be the last time I can visit you." The tone of his voice was one Eliza had never heard before. It was soft and gentle, but, at the same time, thick with sorrow and – and despair. "Cain wishes to meet with me in the place you died."
There was a long pause, daddy's head was bowed, shoulders hunched.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," Abel whispered, "I don't want to leave Elizabeth alone in this world, but I can't justify not going. Cain has to be stopped, now more than ever. He almost killed Elizabeth."
Her daddy ran his hand down the capsule until it came to rest near the point he was staring.
"I know I must be the one to face him. It's certain death, I know this, but I can't risk Seth and I know others would want to follow me. I can't stand the thought of losing more of my family to him. He's taken so much already. That's why, I'm going alone. You told me you wanted me to return as emperor and that you wanted to live again. I can't bring you back, my love, but I can try to stop my brother from taking more like he took you."
His love? Love was what Ion always called Esther… Was this Eliza's mommy? And did she have and uncle as well as her aunty? She wasn't too sure she liked the sound of this uncle one bit. He sounded a lot like the meanies at school who called her weird because her daddy was the emperor and best friend a prince.
"I have to stop him. I have to stop Cain."
"What's this about stopping Cain?"
Eliza nearly yelped at the sound of her auntie's voice.
Seth strode across the space to where Eliza's daddy stood, looking at her with a dull eyes. "Don't tell me you're going to try and stop Cain by yourself… again!" Seth stopped before Abel and planted her hands on her hips.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Eliza stared at her daddy. He was lying! He always told her lying was no good and here he was, lying!
"Don't give me that!" Seth shouted at him. "You've been set on taking him down alone for centuries." There were tears in Seth's eyes. "He's my brother too. It's not just your fault." She swallowed. "I'm the one who wanted him to live. I'm the one who injected him with 01. It's my fault too."
"Seth, I don't want you to go," Abel protested. "You have to stay in case I don't make it back. Who will run the empire if we both die?"
Seth glared at him. "I'm going and that's that. Elizabeth will run the empire when she's old enough and dad can stay behind to help her. He's still got a few centuries."
"Please, sister, I'm begging you stay here this time."
"Nope."
Several more people entered just then. Among them Eliza recognized: Asthe, Caterina, Leon, her grandpa, and William.
"And I've backup to prove you're not going alone!" Seth declared, grinning up at Eliza's daddy.
"That isn't—"
"You're not going alone, Abel," Caterina interrupted him. "Leon and William have agreed to go with you and Seth."
"I don't want anyone else harmed."
"Idiot, do you think we care if we are 'harmed'?" Asthe demanded.
"I—" her daddy cut off and bowed his head, "Even if you've a point," he began, "I still can't justify—"
"Oh, shut up already, Four-eyes!" Leon slung his arm around Abel's shoulders. "We're going and that's that." He grinned at Abel.
Eliza stared at them. She wanted to go to. To be with her daddy and make sure he came back safely. She really wanted to go. It didn't matter if there were more scary people wherever he daddy was going. All that mattered was she was with her daddy.
"I'll keep Eliza safe this time," Grandpa Thomas vowed.
Now, hold on a sec. Eliza wanted to go too! Crawling out from her hiding place, Eliza knew she had to go with her daddy. She just had to. "I'm going too!" Eliza called to them as she stood.
"No you're not," her daddy said sternly. For some odd reason he didn't look too shocked to see her there.
In fact none of them seemed too surprised to see Eliza there. "But I want to go," Eliza pouted. She raced across the floor to her daddy. Taking hold of his leg, she pouted up at him. "Please, daddy, I want to go with you."
"No," Abel spoke in a stern yet soft voice. He knelt down before her as tears appeared in her eyes. "You and Thomas will have enough adventure and fun here as it is." He smiled at her, his winter blue eyes shinning with emotion.
Tears were about to burst from her eyes. Eliza didn't want to be without her daddy. "But I—" her lips wobbled. A warm hand on Eliza's shoulder did little to comfort her.
"Hey, he's got us with him," Aunty Asthe said. "I won't let anyone kill the idiot of an emperor so don't worry."
"Yeah, he's got us with him, so you know he'll be fine," Leon boasted, jabbing a thick thumb into his chest.
Eliza nodded, but it didn't make the fact any easier. Without her daddy there was only her grandpa and aunty left. "Come back, please," Eliza pleaded, tugging on her daddy's sleeve.
Her daddy hesitated, glancing at Thomas before looking her in the eye. "I promise I'll return." The calm of his voice sent warmth through Eliza.
Eliza took Grandpa Thomas' hand. "Be careful," Thomas said to all of them. He lead Eliza towards the door.
Looking over her shoulder, Eliza saw her daddy straighten. The expression on his face made her want to run back and hug him, to just be with him. She wanted to stay, but she knew in her heart she had to go with Grandpa no matter how hard it was. He'd promised he'd return. That was enough for her, for now.
xxx
Abel watched his daughter go, hoping he hadn't just told her a lie. The last time he'd said such a thing to a child it had been to a seventeen year old Aran. It'd turned out to be a lie.
"We should head out," Abel stated, turning to the others. "The sooner we get there the better chances we've against Cain." Plus it wasn't a short trip to the elevator. They were under the empire which made it shorter, but still… "Caterina," Abel looked at his oldest friend and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll be fine, Abel." Caterina gave him a weak smile.
Abel nodded. He wasn't certain if it was the truth or not. Turning, Abel led the group from the room. He headed towards where a small airship was docked. They'd take that to the elevator.
Once aboard the ship and the pilot had taken off, Leon asked, "So, where we head?"
"The Ark," Seth replied without pause, seeming to know where Cain would've wanted to meet Abel. "At least I'm assuming it's the Ark."
"It is," Abel confirmed, his attention on the letter Cain had given him.
"The Ark?" William asked around his pipe.
"You'd be more used to it's other name: the Vampires' Moon." Abel glanced at his friend. "After the Methuselah Civil War we built it to bring the Methuselah back to Earth. The ship we based the design off of was called the Ark so we just used that name."
"Besides it did fit," Seth said, no smile on her face. "Brother, you know where Cain's bound to be."
"I know."
"You're not thinking about going to him alone, are you?"
"It depends," Abel began, looking at each of them. "If there are forces with Cain you're going to have stop them." He looked at William, Asthe, and Leon. "If not we'll spilt into two groups. William and Leon will go with Seth to look for 01's container. Asthe, you'll come with me. There's bound to be at least one person at Cain's side. You'll have to take care of that person while I distract Cain."
"01's container is on the Ark?" Seth asked, tilting her head to one side. "That does make sense. I looked through the entire empire for it after you left. There was no sign of it."
"It'll be in his favorite places from the return trip to Earth. Do you have any idea where those were?" Abel looked at his sister.
"I can think of a few. One would be where he killed Lilith." The color drained from Seth's face. "Brother…" She trailed off letting her green eyes give away all her fear.
"It'll be fine."
Silence fell over the group. It wasn't a silence Abel wanted, but he couldn't think on anything to say or do. Right then he was thinking more on his promise to Eliza. He had to keep that promise no matter what, but he also had to stop Cain.
No matter which way Abel looked at it, this battle would in one of three ways. He would become "one" with Cain, he'd kill Cain, or they'd both die. The last one was the more likely of the two. Abel didn't want to kill his brother, not as much as he had before he'd discovered 01 was the one who'd been in control all these years. Did Cain, the real Cain really disserve death?
(Author's Note: This is more than likely not worth the wait I made you guys go through . sorry about that and sorry about it being unedited. I'm going back through it tomorrow and have sent it to CrusnikO2 to read over =D
I'm really sorry about the delay in this book. I know many of you have been wanting to read this one and I've been working on others instead. Part of me doesn't want to work on it because I love this story and don't want it to end.)
