Trinity Blood: Emperor's Mask
Chapter 8: Augusta's Brother

The day following Abel's departure to get Petro away from the group was tense. Caterina forced herself to walk at the slower pace Tres set and not keep looking around for Abel. He wouldn't be able to catch up with them for over a day. The fact he wasn't here was more than enough to make Caterina feel on edge. It had been years since her heart had flickered with so much fear and doubt. Sending Abel on that task might just prove to be their undoing, but he also would never have stood for killing Petro outright. Petro was a good man, even if he was rather annoying and hardheaded.

Most of the day passed in tense silence between the group. When night started to fall the group continued on towards the meeting point Abel had marked on the map. Tres drove them forward until the place came into view. A small, smokeless fire had been set up and Tres held up his hand to stop them. The machine slipped away into the night in order to check what was going on. He turned a moment later.

"Is it Abel?" Caterina asked.

"Affirmative," Tres replied before heading towards the fire.

As Caterina approached, the knot of tension in her stomach eased. Sure enough Abel was seated by the fire with fresh game near him showing he had arrived long before they had. He looked exhausted and strained. There was a hint of red in his eyes as the duchess and count approached but he didn't otherwise show signs of having been in his other form for so long.

"You're later than I thought you would be," Abel stated in way of greeting to Caterina. "Was there any trouble?" he asked.

"No, none," Caterina replied and sat down beside her oldest friend and advisor. "What did you see on returning?"

"There are a few search parties like Petro's out looking for us, but most of the Vatican's attention is focused on taking the empire."

"So crossing the border will be a problem." Caterina rubbed her eye. This wasn't good at all. They needed to get into the empire to meet with Abel's sister, but if there was no way in, then they would be trapped with no place to go.

"There's another away across the border," Abel started as the others gathered around the fire. "I'll tell you more after we've gotten the camp up and dinner ready." With those words, Abel set to work on the game. Tres left to guard the area while William and Astharoshe were busy getting the tents up. Esther was helping Abel prepare the meal while Ion and Caterina watched them.

Another way to cross the border? Caterina eyed Abel. Perhaps the path they had been traveling was more than just the easier indirect route to the empire.

Dinner was soon served and everyone was around the fire once more minus Tres. "What did you mean by another way across the border?" Astharoshe asked.

"It's more under the border," Abel started. "There are old passages that were built during the human-Methuselah War which lead into a catacomb of underground cities."

Esther's eyes went wide. "There's a city underground."

"Several," Abel told them. "They were built before the empress figured out how to make the protective barrier surrounding the empire now."

Ion was frowning. "I've never heard of such a thing before," he stated.

"I'm not surprised," – Abel gave the boy a tired smile – "the idea wasn't too popular when the emperor started building the cities. No one really wanted to live underground away from fresh air or the sky. But the tunnels and cities should still be intact so we can travel through them to the capitol or at the very least to the border. There are enough ways out onto the surface we'll be fine if we run out of food."

"You were planning this route all along," Caterina stated and sighed. She wasn't really shocked. It would be the safest way to travel. Secret passages underground would get them there faster.

"I've heard of these cities," Astharoshe spoke at last. There was a small frown on her face. "They are sad to now be the last refuge to for the Methuselah incase anything happens to the empress, but I thought they were just a myth."

"They're no myth."

"How are we going to enter them?" Ion piped up. "I doubt the empire would leave tunnels leading right to our capitol unguarded."

William was nodding his agreement. "It would seem unlikely."

"There most likely aren't guards this far over the current border of the empire," Abel stated. "At least not ones above the ground."

"Wait, this far," Ion's voice cracked with shock.

"There are tunnels in Vatican territory?" Caterina asked, frowning. She'd never heard of such a thing before.

"You forget the empire was nearly to Rome during the early years of the war," Abel stated. "Before Lilith," – his features saddened and voice shook a little – "joined the Vatican military there was nothing the humans could do to stop them." No one but Caterina seemed to have noticed the way Abel acted when he spoke of Lilith or the fact he was now fingering his cross again. "This was once part of the empire."

"But Lilith turned the tide of battle quickly," William pointed out. "There shouldn't have been enough time for the empire to build something here unnoticed."

"Not something large," Abel agreed, "but the emperor never told Lilith about the work crews or the tunnels."

"But weren't they betrothed?" Esther asked.

"Err, not until much later. At the time they were near the end of an eighty year long argument between them," Abel sounded as if he would rather be talking about anything but this. He shifted awkwardly. "The important thing is that the tunnels should still be intact in this area."

"How far are we from it?" Caterina asked.

"Less than three days," Abel told them. "Four if we take the day before going under to gather supplies just in case. There's a town not too far from there where a small number of us should be able to get supplies before heading down, if they're careful."

"We'll decide that before the group gets to the tunnels." Caterina turned her gaze on the others in the group. "For now all of us need rest, especially you, Abel." She gave him a stern look which he returned with a smile and a nod.

x – Three Days Later – x

For the first time since this journey had started Abel found himself lying in the tent with William and Ion.

"The tent was crowded enough as it was," Ion grumbled.

"It's raining again," William pointed out, trying to sooth the count. "Abel can't very well sleep outside tonight."

"Why not? He does every other night."

Abel sighed and rolled over on the mat he'd been given. He pulled his coat over his head to block out the boy. He would rather be sleeping outside as well if only to not have to listen to the child's complaints about how crowded the tent now was. However when it had started William had insisted that Abel sleep inside the tent this night if only to avoid a cold. Abel hadn't had the heart to point out he'd never had a cold or any illness in his life.

After what felt like hours Ion's voice died away to soft breathing. William too was soon asleep. Abel was left awake, staring at the wall and listening to the soft patter of the rain as it struck the tent. Then he slowly closed his eyes if only to sell the fact he was sleeping and perhaps actually sleep a little.

x - x - x

Rain picked up around Abel. His long cape whipped out by the harsh wind. The rain bit into his face.

"There was a group spotted near here!" Barrack's shout came over the wind.

"How far?!" Abel shouted back, forcing his voice up so as to be heard.

"A few miles. They'll reach Solomon long before us, Majesty," Barrack replied as he moved to Abel's side. Barrack was a towering man who stood a few inches taller than even Abel. His dark skin was barely visible under the protective gear and armor he wore. Right then only part of his face was and it was more because it was night than anything else. "We should get the message when he's attacked," Barrack continued. He was still loud but it was softer now that he was close.

"We'll remain here and pincer the terrans when they come in this direction," Abel stated and turned his gaze on the soldiers camped behind him. Many were huddled in their tents to escape the weather. "Gather the men and tell Alexander to remain grounded, we don't want to tip them to our location until it's too late."

"Yes, Majesty," Barrack bowed to Abel before he left to gather the soldiers.

Abel kept his eyes locked on the trees around them. This place would be good for one of the tunnel locations. As long as it was locked no terran would be able to use it as a passage straight to the empire and even if they did the passages would be too confusing. They would die long before they found the empire.

He shook his head. Wet hair whipped his face before he blinked the water from his eyes. Abel moved away from his position in order to help rally his soldiers.

Soon they had had taken down the camp and hidden the supplies away. Abel was up in one of the trees with Barrack, waiting. His legs were cramping for the position but he dared not shift or speak or do anything other than watch for the Vatican forces which would soon come through here.

Then, slowly at first, the soldiers of the Vatican appeared below. Abel gripped "Only One" and unsheathed his sword. This was the signal. Several men dropped from the trees, landing on the terrans below. Abel followed. He drove his blade through the helm and into the man's skull with ease.

The ambush had worked. There was a scramble as the Vatican tried to run from the pincer attack only to be met by Solomon's forces. They had managed to completely isolate this group. The entire battle was over faster than it had begun. Soon the survives were rounded up and the injured given mercy.

"Make certain we've rounded up everyone," Barrack ordered several his men.

Abel stood nearby. He didn't move for his position. In the heat of battle had killed all the enemy who'd come near enough to him. None had surrendered and most had been after him in order to kill the emperor themselves.

The images changed. Abel was back at the main camp in his tent. Screams sounded through the imperial night. At once he was on his feet and rushed out of the tent. An arrow hissed passed Abel's ear. They were under attack! Abel lunged into the battle without any of his weapons desperate to save his people.

Barrack was over run and Abel couldn't see Solomon anywhere. Abel shoved his way through the battlefield. He had to find them, he had to get to them.

"Abel!" A scream came over the clamor.

Abel whipped around to see Caterina in the mists of the fighting soldiers. He raced towards her. Fear clung to his heart. A body slammed into him. He rolled with the impact, ending up flat on his back. He struggle against the man who had attacked him

"Abel!" a voice called to him.

He lashed out at the attacker.

"Abel, wake up!"

Abel's eyes snapped open. He sat up taking hold of the attacker. His hand closed around their neck, his fangs bared as he snarled. The person gasped. Abel blinked. William came into focus. At once Abel released the man.

"I'm sorry, William." Abel felt himself calming as he realized all of that had just been a dream. Of course it had been, Caterina hadn't been alive eight centuries ago after all. But it had felt so real. The rain, the memory of that battle, all of it had been real. He even remembered he hadn't been able to sleep that night.

William coughed and rubbed his neck. "Just don't do that again," William stated as he straightened. "But are you all right?"

"I should ask you that, not the other way around," Abel replied instead of answering.

"I'll recover from that, but you were thrashing in your sleep."

"Yeah, it woke everyone up," Ion grumbled and rolled over on his mat. "It's hard enough having to sleep during the imperial day without being woken by you."

Abel scowled. It wasn't as if he'd chosen to have a nightmare… every night. "I'm going to check the area." Abel stood as he pulled on his coat.

He left the tent without saying anything else. It was bad enough he'd harmed William then the brat had to throw the fact Abel could never sleep soundly back in his face. Abel let out a long breath, taking in the fresh smell of the rain and the forest like area around him. Abel headed into the forest to find breakfast for the group.

Though he had long since known Ion would never like Abel, it would have been nice to have the kid layoff just for once. At first the boy had disliked Abel because of the way he had acted and the fact even Abel had found himself annoying at times meant he didn't blame Ion there. When Abel had shown his true self to everyone when the order had been dropped, no one really liked him for it outside of those who had known it was an act.

Abel stopped walking. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. Perhaps he just needed to walk and get everything out. He knew what the dream had meant to him. It was a reminder that the promises he had made to his friends in the past had vanished. It was the reminder that he couldn't protect anyone no matter how hard he tried.

He stood there, unmoving and staring up at the sky as the rain hit him. In the end, no matter what Abel did it wouldn't matter. He had wanted peace when the empire first started on Earth and that had failed. All of his life he had wanted a place to belong, where people could accept him for him all of what he was. He had that only once in his life and that had been in the empire. Here, the only ones who did were Caterina and William. It was more than he had after his sons had died, but it still felt hallow being here among the humans and even two Methuselah.

At the end of the day, if he looked on it, what he knew was that here he didn't belong. In this time a crusnik wasn't someone who could be easily accepted. Even in the empire it was no longer something one went around announcing. Seth had hidden her identity from all but a few and one of those few had been unable to truly accept her.

"A thousand years, ah." Abel closed his eyes. In less than thirty years he would reach his tenth decade. Until this moment he had been too busy with trying to help Caterina forge peace he hadn't stopped to think on this fact. But by the time Caterina was in her early fifties he would be in his tenth century. Thirty years was nothing, it was blink of an eye, such a short time.

Abel shook his head and took a deep breath. Right then he needed to focus on the here and now. Not the future and certainly not the past.

When Abel returned to camp Esther had managed to get a fire going in the damp mist which had replaced the rain. The pot was already boiling as well.

"Is that it?" she asked, eyeing the little Abel had caught.

"Ah, most were still asleep or hiding away in their holes." He started to skin the one rabbit he'd managed to catch.

"How long did it take you to get that one?" Esther asked.

"I managed to catch it on my way back," he stated, not looking up from his work.

"Maybe you left too early," Ion yawn, stretching beside Esther. "You did leave hours before anyone was even thinking of waking up. And what was with—"

Abel shot a glare at Ion to silence the child. Abel already felt bad enough of waking the way he had without Ion reminding him about it.

"Abel, you and William will head for the town," Caterina informed Abel as she joined them by the fire.

Ion snickered a little at this.

"Try to return here before sundown. If you're not back by then…" she trailed off. To anyone else her expression was stern but Abel could see the worry. He knew she had debated a long time on who to send. He and William were trained agents and could be in and out quickly with what they needed.

"Understood. If I don't return try to cross the border above ground, don't risk the tunnels."

She nodded.

"As if we could find them without you," Astharoshe pointed out. " Be sure to get more than rabbit while you're there."

Abel sighed. "Fine, fine." He stood and moved over to William. "William," he started.

"I'm ready to go, my friend," William said with a warm smile. "Let's be off."

Abel nodded. Once they were out of earshot of the group he spoke again, "I'm sorry about last night."

"Nightmares?" William asked.

"Ah."

"For how long? Perhaps I could help."

At this Abel laughed. "The best doctors in the old empire couldn't rid me of nightmares. I've complete faith in your ability, William, but I can live with most nightmares."

"To the point where you barely sleep each night?" William asked, raising his eyebrows. "You know they say 'time heals all wounds.' Perhaps that is the best cure for you."

"Time is all I've had to heal those wounds, William. It's only made it worse." Abel gave him a small smile. "Thanks for the advice. You might be right, perhaps given a few more years."

"Perhaps when peace truly does come, your nightmares will go away."

Abel shrugged.

The rest of the trip to the small town passed in silence. Abel noted that more animals were about than earlier. He could catch something on the way back to make up for the miserable catch this morning.

A harsh scent made Abel stop in his tracks. His eyes narrowed. "William." He held out his arm to stop the younger man.

"What's wrong?"

"I smell burnt flesh," he whispered, eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong."

"We'll approach the town with caution then."

Abel nodded. Together they started towards the town once more. The scene which greeted them was one of total destruction. At first glance the town appeared to have been deserted during a fire, but Abel's nose was telling him something else had happened here. He moved towards the town square, William following close behind.

"My God," William whispered as they stepped into the square.

The world felt as if it had come crashing down on Abel in that instant. All of the villagers had been gathered here, their bodies set aflame until nothing but chard corpses remained. Abel stepped forward.

"They're still smoking," he whispered, "whoever did this did it in the past day or so."

William wasn't listening. He had moved off a little ways. "Look at this."

Abel turned to see he'd pulled down a paper which had been hammered into one of the buildings. "What is it?" Abel asked as he moved over to William.

"It's a decree that anyone harboring a traitor will end up having their village burned." William frowned. "It has the Vatican seal on it." He passed the parchment to Abel.

As Abel looked at it, he felt sick. This was worse than the Human-Methuselah War. At least then no one was burned alive for harboring traitors.

"We won't find what we need here," Abel stated as he set down the parchment. "I fuse to steal from the dead."

"Besides there's nothing left," an elegant voice sounded behind them.

Abel whipped around, pulling out his gun in the same motion. The barrel came to rest an inch from a young woman's head. Abel blinked. The woman, for she was one and not a child or teen as her size and shape suggested, had long blond hair that she had tied back into a braid. Her clothes, though plain and travel warn, still spoke of nobility. And her eyes were the same auburn color as Ion's.

"Mirka Fortuna?" Abel gaped at the woman as he lowered the gun. "What on Earth are you doing here?!"

"A good question and one I will answer when we reach the tunnels. The people who did this will be returning soon to check the area."

"We still don't have the supplies to make the journey," William pointed out.

"You needn't worry about that, we have the supplies needed for a small group to join ours. We figured you wouldn't be alone," her eyes were locked on Abel as she said this.

"All right. William," – he turned to his friend – "let's go."

William frowned, but didn't argue. The three of them raced off towards the camp. With running they arrived after only a few minutes to find the group just finishing up breakfast.

"Abel, William." Caterina stood when she noticed them and frowned when she noticed they had returned without the supplies. "What's wrong?"

"We need to go, now," Abel told her as he darted to one of the tents and started to help finish packing up.

"Why? What's wrong?" she repeated.

"Grandmother!" Ion exclaimed just then, having noticed Mirka. He leapt to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi, Ion," she greeted her grandson as if he'd only just gone for a short walk instead of having been running for his life.

"She's his grandmother?" William seemed a little confused by this but shook his head and helped with the clearing the camp.

"I'll explain everything when we reach the tunnels," Mirka stated.

Abel straightened, now carrying one of the packs on his back. Tres had just appeared and taken the other pack.

"We must hurry. They'll be in this part soon."

Abel nodded and let Mirka lead the way to the tunnels. It wasn't a long walk and soon they arrived at what appeared to be a cliff face at first glance. Embedded into the cliff was a worn and broke statue of a tall man. The face had been worn away by long years as had much of the details.

"The emperor," Mirka stated before she moved over to the statue and placed her hand on the pad hidden behind it. The wall shook and the statue moved aside to reveal an opening in the cliff. "This way," she gestured to them.

Abel nodded to Caterina and stepped aside, allowing the others to pass into the tunnels first. Only once he was certain no one had been left did Abel enter the passage as well. The statue moved smoothly back into place by technology long since forgotten.

"Are you here alone, Grandmother?" Ion asked as they started further into the tunnel. Mirka had lit a candle for them to see by.

"Oh, no, far from it. I came with two others." She smiled at Ion. "I am glad to see my adorable grandson alive and well." She looked over her shoulder at Abel and Caterina. "You've my thanks for keeping him safe."

"How did you know we'd be there?" Astharoshe asked.

"I didn't, or we didn't," Mirka stated. "The empress had assumed you and my grandson had died when the attacks started."

"What?" Ion asked, eyes wide.

"Then why come?" Caterina asked.

They had entered a small cave in the passage. "The empress ordered us to find her brother and 'drag him home even if he was kicking and screaming all the way.'"

Abel felt heat rise in face at once at her statement.

"So the empress really does have two brothers?" Esther asked.

"Yes," a new voice replied. From the shadows Baibars appeared. There was one other with him as well who also looked to be a member of the royal guard.

"Shouldn't you be guarding the empress?" Abel asked.

"Mirka and I are the only ones who knew what her brother looks like since all pictures were placed in lockdown centuries ago," Baibars stated. To Esther he added, "Never mention the second brother again, young lady. He's never spoken of."

"But the empress spoke of him?" Ion's voice cracked with his question and confusion.

"That's the empress," Mirka gently reminded her grandson.

"So you still need to find this brother?" William asked.

"Oh, heavens no," Mirka stated with a flick of her wrist and smile, "he's here with us."

"Really?" Ion asked, glancing around as if he expected another person to appear.

Mirka laughed. "You've been traveling with him all along, Ion." She bowed her head to Abel. "Majesty."

"No," Abel shook his head, "no calling me 'majesty' I'm not a royalty and my surname isn't Vradica. That's all on Augusta."

Baibars nodded at this but stated. "She's going by her birth name once more, majesty," he didn't hesitate to call Abel "majesty."

"Makes sense, but I'm still not royalty. It's just Abel."

Mirka looked amused by this while Baibars just shrugged.

"You're Augusta's brother?!" Ion exclaimed.

(Author's Note: Not sure this was clear on his dream, when it goes to the main camp this actually never happened, obviously if you're reading Divergent Path since this is before Lilith the Empire and several of his current allies appeared. It is just a dream.)