Vampiric Sacrifice

by stefani teee

HY/RP. Things aren't as they once were. A match made in heaven was broken, a prince is in a coma, his wife is dead, and a princess is out for revenge. And a pair of vampiresses is the cause of it all.

5. Ritual

Title: Vampiric Sacrifice

Author: stefani teee a.k.a. Koneko ^Å^

© Tales Spinners Inc.

Koneko-chan says!

Hi! First off, about what you people said about the previous chapter. No, Duo does not have a crush on Dorothy. Mind you, he does care for her like he does any of his friends, like any person would care for their friends. But he's seen how Trowa and Dorothy worked out, what he doesn't see is why he would let her go like that. He wasn't awake when Trowa admitted to Heero, Relena and Dorothy about Midii remember? But even he can tell something's not quite right. That was what I was going for, if any of you think otherwise, I apologize.

Chapter Four: Ritual

~*~*~*~

"Dorothy!" Relena came running over to Duo as soon as she spotted him. And the bloody body he had flung over his shoulders. "Is she okay?"

"Shh!" he admonished, "She's asleep. And she's fine." He turned to Trowa, who had stood there in shock when he'd seen them, and the blue eyes that met green told the taller boy that a certain braided American was very mad. But that was for later, now was the time to tell what he could. "I went as fast as I could when I realized we were all here and Dorothy was all alone. When I got there, there was blood dripping over the sidewalk and into the gutters and Dorothy was stumbling out of there, she looked like a wreck. She'd finished the guy herself… and she seemed to have done a good job of it." He held up the small silver knife she'd used, "I found this, and what looked like a shattered stake. I think she decapitated him with this…" Relena grimaced taking it from him and examining it.

"I had to do that before… granted, it'll burn into them like hell, but it must've taken a lot of strength to break his neck with this…" Her words were short and sharp. She was angry. No, that was not right, she was furious. Dorothy had taken on a vampire that not even a slew of well-armed Preventers could kill. And where had her backup been?! Trowa had just appeared at her fight scene near the middle, and he'd been helping bring the other guy down. Dorothy had been alone. Still keeping pressure on her leg, where he'd gotten a lucky slash in, she jerked her head in the direction of the car. "Let's go. We'll talk when we get there."

"Where are we going, might I ask?" It was Wufei.

"Dorothy's."

"Then let's get moving." Heero's voice betrayed nothing, nor did he say anything more. But the dreadful silence was more uncomfortable than if he had started yelling. Same old 'Omae o korosu' Heero. The car ride was uneventful. Quatre had had to forcibly place Relena in the backseat and let him drive. She didn't resist much longer because soon enough she found herself falling asleep against her Dorothy's shoulder. Incidentally, Dorothy's head was propped up in a rather familiar position on Trowa's shoulder. Slowly, the man in question lifted his arm, allowing her the more comfortable position of his arm around her and her head against his chest.

He'd known he'd made a mistake, and he was sorry… very, very sorry. He'd honestly thought that someone else would come after her, to be her backup… and when they'd finished off the vermin that Relena had attacked, Duo had come to a full stop, stared at each and every one of them and sped off. It had only struck him at that moment that Dorothy was all by herself. Slowly, his arm tightened around her, as he took in the blood drying in her hair, dying the blonde strands a strange reddish color. Her neck was a mass of bruises and he winced as the thought came to him that he should've been there. But he was delayed by a stupid bar fight right when he was about to follow her and it had given some strange girl the perfect excuse to jump him screaming for him to save her. When he'd finally gotten out, he'd ran for the nearest sound he could find, and that happened to lead to Relena.

"Did you know, Trowa?" Relena was awake, and once again, he could've sworn she could read minds. "Did you know she was all alone?"

"No… I thought someone… anyone would help her while I was stuck in there… I honestly didn't know, or else I would've been there…" After saying all this, he relapsed back into silence as Relena smoothed away a lock of sun-bleached hair from her friend's face. "When she wakes up… explain it to her." her voice was soft and he looked up at her askance. She smiled a small, rather wry smile. "If I started screaming and bitching at you, it would help no one, least of all Dorothy. Just tell her; make her understand what you did. Okay?"

He nodded slowly as he gazed down at the girl still sleeping against his chest, "I will." She deserved the truth anyway… being all alone with no one else to count on probably hadn't been very good for her self-confidence. He remembered telling Wufei something… girls are so much more easily hurt than you or I. He sighed, life was a huge mess for him right now. Quatre slid into the darkened driveway of Dorothy's chateau. The other males in the car had stayed silent while Relena had dealt with Trowa. When she came hobbling out, still applying pressure on the bandage at her leg, Heero, without another word picked her up in his arms and said, "Don't move it and it won't bleed. You don't have to press so hard like this." Relena smiled wanly up at him, "Thanks." He nodded and continued walking up the driveway towards the house. Trowa looked down at the girl still in the car and with a sigh picked her up, holding her against his chest. As he did so, something shiny dropped out of a pocket (hidden somewhere on her) and he stooped to pick it up. It was a ring. Probably one of the silver ones she likes to wear so much. It was true, she never left her house without carrying a silver ring on her finger. But as soon as he walked into the light, he recognized the ring with a flash. It was her…

"You found it." Dorothy's voice was flat and inexpressive as she opened her eyes at last. He blinked. That was another trait of hers… no one could tell when she was asleep or when she was not. She took the ring from his hand but hesitated, "You gave it to me… do you want it back now?" Trowa bit his lip, looking down at her through his big green eyes, "Dorothy… I…" She waved a hand at him, "No need to say anything. I heard it all. I was awake through most of the car ride you know. And, believe it or not, I was awake when you were hugging me in the car."

"Dorothy, I just wanted to say about you being alone… did you think I didn't care?"

All of a sudden, the sultry little demoness disappeared and a tired young woman was left. She laughed hoarsely, "I thought a lot further than that Tro… I thought about how being a bad-tempered Duchess would never compare to a Vice Foreign Minister that every loved, that everyone depended on. I thought about how every one of you thought I was the biggest bitch in the world and a total slut at that. I thought about all those things in the past when I took Mr. Milliardo's side instead of yours, and yes, I did think none of you cared. I had a fleeting suspicion that you did it purposely just to get me out of your way… of course, you're too noble to do that." she said with another wry smile. She got free of his hold and dropped lightly onto the ground, "Too bad I don't remember much of last night… memories are never as good as the real thing but they'll be all that I'll have." With that, she ran up ahead of him through her door. Trowa stared down at the engagement ring he'd given her months ago. It was true… memories weren't as good as the real thing. He closed his hand around the small silver band, and walked in after her.

Dorothy went straight to her room, where a hot bath had already been drawn and she silently thanked her own personal maid. She stripped off the tatters that were left of her costume and slipped into the comfortable warmth that allowed her to wash off the disgusting feel of the vampire's touch. She sighed as she leaned against the side of the old-fashioned porcelain edge of her bathtub. Things would never go so well for her would they? Trowa had Midii now and he should've been happy. She'd let him go hadn't she? But then she had to make an even bigger mess of things and went over to Lena's, get completely drunk and she had had sex with him again. Trowa was not the type of man to do that… sober that is.

Dammit! She played with the idea of punching something, but decided against it. This was a nice bathtub and besides, she'd break something else in her hand if she hadn't already. It was a mass of blue and black bruises as it was. Stupid of her. She finally raised herself from the bathtub… she had guests to entertain and it would not be polite to leave them in the living room. Dressing quickly, she pulled on a green shirt and a pair of drawstring pants still rubbing her hair vigorously with a towel as she stepped out into the hall. An unexpected flash of lightning flaring up in the large bay window beside her made her jump as she turned to stare at the pouring rain outside. She groaned… just what she needed.

"Do you scare easily, Miss Catalonia?" asked the slightly disdainful voice of Chang Wufei. She, in her turn, gave him her perfected Imperial Stare. "No. It simply surprised me. But I like to be on guard if you know what I mean. Should it even mean being so tense all the time." The young man allowed a small smile. "I myself have felt that way… granted, I do not jump at lightning strikes." Dorothy looked away, muttering, "Serve you right should you be struck down by one." Wufei laughed, a rather nice sounding laugh from this grim-looking man, "I don't fear death but I am not stupid." Dorothy returned the laugh with her own. "I suspected as much. Where you looking for something?"

"I was actually going to ask you if I could use your vid-phone."

"Sally?"

"Sally." He confirmed and she made a Herculean attempt to hide her mirth. "Better go ahead then… if she's still mad after she's done with you, she'll be starting on the host… and we're not living in Lena's house at the moment."

He laughed again before nodding in her direction and heading off in the opposite towards the vid-phone in the hallway. With that, Dorothy made her entrance in the 'changing room' as it was now being called as Relena was helping hand out their clothes. Dorothy began to help out folding them neatly and placing them in a pile beside her. "When you go you can take them home too if you want." she told Trowa as he came out of the bathroom wearing what he had been before. "Er… yes. Thank you."

"Lady Dorothy?" a timid knock sounded on the door and Dorothy went to open it. There was a petite figure of a little girl standing there, "Lady Dorothy, there's someone pounding at the front door and I'm too scared to open it because…" she didn't finish her sentence. Dorothy sighed, "I'm going then… oh no you don't, you're coming too little missy, you've got to confront your fears sometime." The little girl nodded trembling but she bravely followed the older girl through the darkened hallways. Dorothy had sprinted all the way to the door, the little girl a few meters behind with her shorter legs but they made it. Indeed someone was still pounding on the door and Dorothy opened it to see, illuminated by the huge flashes of lightning, a figure of a slim blonde woman, her platinum-blonde hair soaked through and dripping to her face. She was she half-dragged, half-carried what looked like a slumped body to the door. Dorothy stared at the unmistakable figure, "Midii Une?!"

"Miss Dorothy! Thank goodness you're home! Are any your other friends here?! Is Trowa here?!" she asked, her voice thick with panic. Dorothy immediately ushered the girl in and as she began pulling, she found that it would not budge. "He's Mr. Townsend."

"Then you're invited in, now get in here." snapped Dorothy at the unconscious deadweight as she yanked him into the house. She then stared at her arch-nemesis dripping and she sighed, "Katie, please go and fetch Miss Une a towel… I feel an explanation is needed." Middii shook her head wildly, droplets of water flying everywhere as she did so before she stopped. "No! Vampires are attacking Mr. Townsend's house! They're—" Another loud bashing of Dorothy's poor door sounded.

"What's happening out here?" asked Relena as she came into the front hallway. "Someone's at the door." Dorothy replied wrenching it open. Another bolt of lightning flashed again with perfect timing, lit up the sky so she could see one of the most gruesome sights ever. She found herself, and Midii, screaming before Relena rushed forward. "It's you!" she cried as if she knew the monster.

"Relena… you know this… thing?"

"Here… sav—ed her, big house… burning. You. Come… Roz-lin there." He held out the battered, but still alive figure of Emmy, another one of Adrian Townsend's servants. Relena's eyes went cold at the mention of Rosaline, "She is, is she?" she asked dangerously. "Well then I'll be there in a moment. I've got to get my supplies." She then went off in a half-sprint (as her leg was still in pain) towards the room where she immediately grabbed her battered knapsack and ran back. But this did not happen without several guys following her. One among them was, of course, Heero Yuy. "Where the hell do you think you're going?!" yelled Duo as he raced after her, catching up with her easily. "You realize it's storming out?!"

"Call Preventers." She told him instead, "Adrian Townsend's mansion is burning. Midii Une, Adrian Townsend and Emmy White are in the front hall, and I'm off with my… friend to find Rosaline. And where there's Rosaline, there's that Jacinta girl."

"You're insane! You're going to just run into a burning building like you Wonder Woman or whatever?"

"She-demon from Hell would be more accurate because I'll literally rip that house apart if I have to in order to find those two vampiresses. And I'm going to kill them." She told him, her voice frigid. "Now, whether you come with me or not, I'm going." She went back to the door and ran out into the storm. Wufei and Heero followed her as the others sprang into action back in Dorothy's house. She smiled grimly, they would be good enough.

The thing she was with (she had yet to learn if it even had a name) ran faster than it looked. She could barely keep up, especially with her damn leg. Of all nights, it had to be one when I am partially disabled! Biting back a groan, she continued to run. No need to complain in front of 'Women are Weak' Wufei. Finally, the… thing, stopped. She paused, wondering what was wrong… they weren't even near the house yet. "Be care—ful. Trap. People. Roz—lin." She looked up at the hulking building as she tried to think what that could mean… how could she get in if it was true about a trap? "What kind of trap?" she finally asked.

"People. Hurt. Fire." He tried to speak coherently but it was hard enough to just make out one-syllable words. "I see."

"Damn, what the hell are we supposed to do then?" muttered Heero, glancing over the house in the attempt to figure a way in. The creature shook its big burly head, "No. Follow. Careful."

He led them through the gardens, the roses already withering from the intense heat waves emanating from the burning house. Relena could smell the smell of burning wood, and, as she neared the door, the acrid smell of burning flesh. She bit back a cry, "Oh Chris…" she tarried just long enough to place her hand over his, the one part of him that hadn't yet been burned black, before continuing on into the burning mansion. They were led through the halls towards the crimson room where they'd last been conversing with Midii Une and there, perched on a half-scorched sofa was Roslyn, sipping a cup of some ruby liquid daintily. Relena found the odds ten to one that it was human blood in that teacup.

"The little birdie came!" she said delighted, her tongue flicking at the corners of her mouth licking any traces of blood from them. "Jacy? Jacy where are you?"

"Making sure your little birdie and her friends don't fly away." The other woman's voice floated in front the ceiling, where a hole had been ripped through the scorched timbers. She was armed with two shotguns, and by the look of her, she knew how to use them.

"Where are the others you've got?"

Roslyn made strange swirling gestures with her hands, "Taking a bath… they like taking a bath… their blood washes them clean…" Relena paled, "You killed them." she said finally, her hand clenching tightly on the gun she held in her grasp. "You… bitch!" she choked out, Jacy dropped down lightly on her feet, and took her place beside Roslyn. Roslyn frowned, "Bad birdie, don't call big people names." Relena growled, brandishing her weapon quickly, shooting a gun out of Jacy's hand in the split-second it took. "I'm not calling you names, I'm giving you your title!" The other two were armed now, and Roslyn began laughing, "Silly birdies… you can't hurt us…"

"Wanna bet?" asked Relena, blasting bullets at her. It was point-blank range… there was no way she could've missed. "What the hell?!" she gasped as Roslyn literally threw herself at Relena, clawing at her face, laughing, "I told you so, I told you so!" she trilled, "You can't hurt us!" Relena found her gun knocked out of her hand and watched it fly to the other side of the room, underneath a table. Damn. Heero was up against Jacy, and Wufei was tangling with several other vampires who happened to come in at the wrong time… most of them were dusted quite quickly… but there was always the odd one out that he had a hard time with.

Relena kicked upwards, catching Roslyn's abdomen with her foot in an attempt to get her off her. What the hell is with this thing?! It's not dying! "Little birdie's gonna die!" crooned Roslyn, as if to a small doll.

"Not too soon!" Relena clenched her teeth in pain as she rolled right into a flaming corner of the room. Dammit! How the hell am I going to live through this if the fire keeps on spreading like this?! "I can break your neck now, little birdie… do you want that? Behave little birdie and I'll let you sing a little song."

"I'll tell you when I sing my damn song. Now would you fucking DIE?!" Relena literally smacked a stake right through her chest, and Heero could see the point appear through the white gossamer fabric from behind. Roslyn's eyes widened, and her claws raked the air as she cried, in a hoarse voice, "Jacy!"

The other woman kicked Heero out of her way and grabbed her, ripping the stake out of her lover's chest and crushing it in her hand. She threw the remaining splinters at Relena's face and growled, "You can't kill her like that you stupid fool!" she took one mighty leap towards the upper story where the gaping hole had been, and the both of them disappeared up. Relena was close to being in shock, Why the hell didn't she DIE?! She screamed at herself in her mind as Heero wrenched her upwards. The monster that'd accompanied them had taken off after the pair with a howl and she could do nothing to stop it. "We've got to get out of here!" Heero told her, coughing in the smog, "We're going to burn like the rest of the place if we don't."

Gasping for air, she nodded, "Where's Wufei?"

"Right here. Let's get going." replied the voice behind her as they made for the large window. The only problem was the fact that they were three stories in the air. "Shit!" she cursed, berating herself for forgetting about all this. She could see the fire trucks in the distance, but it would take too long for them to set up the nets. What the hell were they going to do? The hall behind them were already aflame.

"I take you." The monster was back and Relena turned in time to watch in shock as the thing swept all three of them up in his arms and jumping out the window. She felt herself holding back a scream as its hind claws caught a hold on the wall and he walked vertically down the wall, before jumping down heavily on the ground. "Hurr—ry, not safe. Run!" he disappeared in a different direction after he'd gestured towards the fire trucks. He couldn't be seen. Relena sent a silent thanks to the creature as she and the two young men made for the flashing lights.

"Relena!" Dorothy came running towards her, holding a black umbrella to keep off the rain (not that it was doing much good), "Did you find the others?"

"They're dead." she replied hollowly, collapsing on the grass that hadn't been scorched just yet as the fire crew tried to get them to stay away. "Were there any others in the—Vice Foreign Minister?!"

"No." she replied, "They're all dead. There was some psycho in there and the others were murdered." The fireman looked horrified, "What were you doing in there?! You could've been killed too!"

"I didn't know there was a killer in there. The master of the building and one of his servants went to my friend's house for help. I was there helping with paperwork and when I heard there was a fire, I wanted to help." she had on her political look now, cool and distant, but she managed to inject in a small amount of panic to make it seem realistic. "The entire thing was burning and when we went into the red room, one of them was there. She tried to kill us…" she winced as she touched the claw marks on her neck gingerly. "And she had long nails."

"We'll have to bring you to the police…"

"My friend will take me to Preventers… I think they might want to know about this…"

"But Ma'am, the Preventers are only for threats of warfare…"

"They're also closely linked to the police and the government. I need to speak with them." Her voice held no room for disagreement. He took a deep breath, "Yes Ma'am, please be careful…"

She smiled at last, nodding. "Yes sir."

The man was called back to continue working on saving the burning building as Heero looked at her carefully, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah… but what the hell happened? You saw it… you saw how it went in…"

"Yeah. What the hell happened back there?"

"What happened? Lena? Heero?" When she received no answer from them, she turned to Wufei, "Wufei?"

"We found the two vampiresses. We had to fight them… Relena got one right through… but nothing happened." Dorothy's eyes widened as she held the umbrella up over his head, ignoring the fact that they were all soaked anyway. Heero was helping the limping Relena, and they all slowly made their way back to Dorothy's.

"Lady Catalonia! What happened?!" cried an elderly servant when the mistress of the house entered through the front door, lips tight and her friends soaked. "Get some towels." was her only answer. Hardly ever did she ever address her servants like this, and when she did, they all knew it was nigh time to get out of her way. "Yes, Lady." The woman rushed off as quickly as she could as and reappeared in the sitting room where the others were, busying themselves with Adrian Townsend.

Finally, after the entire thing was over, Relena began shivering, mostly from the cold, but also because of a sudden chill fear… she had never encountered a vampire or vampiress she could not kill. This… this scared her. Before, when she'd known the vermin existed, she hadn't feared them, she'd hated them. But she'd known they had mortality, they could die. This vampiress… Roslyn, she wasn't like the others, she'd been sure to stab her right through her heart… and before, she'd shot at her point-blank. At least one of the bullets should've been able to kill her!

Midii Une sat huddled on a corner of a couch looking rather vulnerable as she watched the others tend for Adrian Townsend. She looked completely alien here, and she must've felt so, because this was the house of a girl that distinctly hated her. She had received a towel in her hand, which she'd used to dry her face of the tears and of the rainwater that had seeped through her hair. A warm blanket had then been wrapped around her shivering body and the young man who'd introduced himself to be Quatre Rebarba Winner had given her a seat close to the crackling fire in the fireplace.

Relena went to her knees beside Adrian, checking him methodically as if she were even half as experienced as Sally. Which she wasn't, but she could probably find out what was wrong.

"Midii, what happened?" she asked the young woman seriously. They needed to know what had happened back there. Midii shuddered, seeming to disappear even deeper in the folds of the blanket, "I… he…"

"A little quicker if you don't mind." Wufei said, not in the mood to waste his time. Relena glared at him before turning back to the young woman, "Go on."

"He'd finished taking blood that night… from one of the other maids… he never takes enough for them to die, only for them to feel queasy for a few minutes… and he's usually a little drowsy when he does so. I guess he didn't hear the voices outside… he usually can. The door burst open and the vampires just came in…"

"Just came in? But they weren't invited were they?" Midii shook her head, "No… they just swarmed in. It was Mr. Townsend's home you see… he's already dead. The rule doesn't apply to house owners who are already dead." Relena raised an eyebrow, "So you know something about vampiric law then."

"Working with Mr. Townsend, how could I not?"

"Continue."

"Mr. Townsend tried to keep everyone safe. He knew what they were… we all did because they all had, had fangs you know? He ordered all of us to go through the tunnels, he thought the vampires wouldn't know about them…"

"Well did they?" Relena asked, beginning to get a bad feeling about these vampires… they weren't normal. None of them should have been able to pass through the doors… there was something very wrong about this. It was then she felt a strong arm wrapping around her and she noticed then that she was shivering. It was Duo, and he looked down at her in concern, "You all right there, Lena-girl?"

"I'm…" she paused, before continuing, almost in a whisper so only Duo could hear, "I'm scared." He blinked, but he rather understood. "I can see how you can be… I mean they've been attacking your house before, and you learning that they can just waltz into anyone's house…"

"…means that you can't be safe anymore." finished Heero, coming closer to them. Midii nodded, "I didn't know how to stop them… they just threw Mr. Townsend out of the way like a rag doll… One of the other maids got close enough to one of the two vampiresses, shoved a silver knife through her… the other vampiress grabbed her and ripped off her head and flung her body aside." She shuddered as she recalled what had happened, biting her the bottom of her rosebud lips that Dorothy had so envied for so long, to keep from crying. Trowa was sitting next to her, and he carefully placed an arm around her, allowing the young woman to lean her head against him. Dorothy said nothing. She simply stood up quietly, and walked to the other couch, curling her legs beneath her and leaning her elbow on the armrest. Surprisingly, it was Wufei who sat down next to her to provide moral support. Midii looked almost guilty, but she was perfectly fine with the position she was in. She wasn't above showing off who had caught the masked clown in the end.

It was at this point that Adrian Townsend awoke, looking around himself in blatant confusion. "Where in the world…?" he asked, almost to himself before he recognized the blonde angel standing close to him. "Miss Relena, only you could make this nightmare into a dream…" he muttered trying to stand up.

"Trust me, this is no dream… Midii can fill you in on the details if you're interested."

"There is no need… I remember quite well…" he frowned, "I don't like this new breed of our kind."

"Neither do I, that's why I have to stop them. But I shot her several times point blank and she didn't flinch, I shoved a stake through her chest and she still didn't die."

"Is this one of the same vampiresses that attacked my house?"

"Yes." His frown deepened as he thought, staring into the fire burning in Dorothy's fireplace. "It sounds like they were tampering with something… perhaps some spell or ritual…"

"Magic?" Wufei's voice was scornful before Relena shot him a sharp look and Dorothy nudged him in the side.

"Yes… let us just say that vampires have a different definition of magic than you do… vampirism apparently gives us something more than the average human… I had several volumes in my home… I wonder if they're still unharmed."

"Volumes… books… about these spells and/or rituals?" asked Relena, suddenly anxious. "Where were these?"

"In a secret room hidden behind the library… I simply hope they haven't been touched by the fire or the smoke."

"Do you think we could go check?" she asked, still in the same anxious tone. Dorothy was looking at her friend in surprise now, "What's wrong, Miss Relena? Do you know something we might not?"

"No… I'm just wondering if maybe those vermin found out Adrian had those books and that's why they attacked…"

Adrian frowned, "That's impossible… no one should know about those, I haven't told a soul I have them."

"Fine. Then it's probably not very likely… but I should still like to see those books. May we?"

Adrian gave her a charming grin tinged with sarcasm, "Do you wish to break into my house a second time, and force your way through the firefighters working so hard to keep the place from becoming an even bigger ruin?"

Relena shrugged, not fazed at all. "Yes. I'd like to see them when they're still whole and not blackened and burnt."

"Very well…" he stood up gingerly, Midii Une at his side in an instant.

He smiled at her, "As bad a performance as she may give to my guests at odd times, she has turned out to be a very wonderful young servant." Midii shrugged, "When you want a job done right, you have to work hard at it."

"And you do your job very well… are you coming, Miss Relena?"

"Obviously," she clenched her teeth together as she stood, doing her best to ignore the gash in her leg, and with help, they made for Dorothy's front door. Dorothy watched her friend, concern in her pale blue eyes. "Miss Relena, do be careful," she said, reverting back into her days of admiration for the other girl. Relena smiled wryly, "If I'm not back in half an hour…" before she, Adrian, Midii and Heero (just to make the quota of uninjured people higher) were off on the now familiar pathway back to the house.

Midii looked surprised when they reached the library, and Adrian ripped up a floorboard with relative ease, pressing a code into the machine beneath it. "Imagine… all the times I entered this room to dust all those books and I never noticed a loose floorboard."

"That's because it wasn't loose," Relena told her, picking up a nail she'd caught when it flew out of the board. "He ripped it up off the floor when it was completely nailed down."

The panel of books slid back, out of the way of the other bookshelves, before sliding to the side, another wall of metal slid up, before they entered the small room, lined with shelves similar to the ones in the library. The books however varied from scrolls, to manuscripts, to large leather-bound books. Relena grimaced as she thought of reading through all of them. "Can we be able to transport these out of your house, Adrian? The men outside might surely be able to find them here if the fire doesn't get to them." All of them frowned at the thought of the fire still raging in other parts of the large house.

"Yes, of course, do you think we can bring them all?" Midii stood up, walking back through the wall into the library, flinging a sheet off one of the chairs that had been covered and bringing it back in.

"If they're not damaged at all, we might be able to bring them back to Miss Catalonia's like this." she said, beginning to place the books on the sheet that she'd spread on the floor. "That way we won't look so much like fools when we walk past, and they won't have to ask that many questions." Relena followed her example, ripping another sheet off a sofa and bringing it back in as she and Heero began placing the more delicate scrolls in another sheet so they wouldn't be crushed by the heavier books. They left the library, closing the secret room, and made their way out the mansion. When stopped by the firefighters, Adrian immediately replied that he wished to save some of the more important documents that hadn't been consumed by the flames and they were allowed to pass, with offers of help from several of the officers. They thanked the gods that the sheets were plastic as they trudged through the heavy rain back to Dorothy's.

"Did you get them?" she asked as soon as they had returned, wincing as Heero brushed a bruise on her skin as he walked past her with his burden. "Yeah, we managed to get all of them," Relena replied, as they trooped back to the sitting room, and wrapping themselves in blankets and towels to keep warm. Relena immediately began sorting through the assortment of scrolls, holding them up close to her face to read the faint, spindly writing.

"'Vampyres, the children of Darkness have existed since the beginning when the Angels turned from the light of Heaven and preyed upon Humanity, Damning themselves to an eternity of living with the sins they have committed. The Original vampyres were the most similar to mortals, night or day having no hold on them as they feasted on the blood and flesh of their victims…'" she grimaced, it made horrible reading but she continued, "'and did as they pleased. They were Angels with dark wings and they did not have a care that they were bound from a world in Heaven, wreaking havoc amongst the world. Those who were faithful prayed for long nights for the Lord to deliver them from Originals, from the Black Angels and responded, pressing upon them the symbol of their faith, the Cross, as the protection, the sanctuary from the vermin. The crosses used were to be blessed by the holy priest's hand, and to be believed wholly in. A cross, wielded by an Unfaithful, an atheist, would do nothing to protect than would a stick. The blessed water, Holy Water, was also used, and burned into the flesh of a vampyre, the same as a cross would. But this would not kill an Original, and the mortals knew this.'"

Relena wrinkled her nose as she read a rather disturbing fact. The others were watching her, listening as if she was a morbid vision of a storyteller spinning her tales for children. "It says here that they 'sent mortals to the palaces of the Originals armed with only a cross to test their faith. Those brave or foolish enough to dare sent back, with most of their limbs torn off, their eyes gouged out, and tortured in every way possible. The crosses they carried broken, hanging by threads against their hearts.'"

Adrian sighed, "And those were the ones that were sent back at all… not all of them were sent back."

Relena nodded continuing to read aloud, "'Those deemed worthy by the Originals were turned, made to be likenesses of the Originals. Of a weaker breed, their power came only with time, through hundreds, even thousands of years. The power of the Originals seemed unstoppable, their inability to be affected by hunger or thirst over a very long period of time, and their apparent immunity to any mortal weapon created. Their otherworldly beauty, it seemed, also served to temper every possible feature, so that, should they be pierced, they would remain unharmed, and certainly not dead.'" Relena put down the scroll with a sigh, "Gods, raise your hand if you think Rosalyn might be an Original."

Adrian frowned, "It can't be… as I recall, they were supposed to have been completely destroyed by the Queen."

"The Queen?" Midii looked interested, "The same Queen of the Damned?"

Adrian looked surprised at the blonde, "You know something about vampiric lore?"

Midii shrugged, "Only a little."

"'Little is known about that very same Queen of the Damned,'" Relena said preoccupied with scanning the next scroll, the first one finished with. "She died, didn't she?"

"She dies and is reborn in the body that she has chosen, she is eternal." This was from Heero, who had remained silent up until now. All eyes turned to the again silent Japanese, "You know something about this?"

"Some."

Duo groaned, "Man, you people have a weird enough hobby. I have enough trouble just hunting them up and killing 'em. I don't find a need to know where they came from." Dorothy narrowed her eyes, giving him a pointed look, "Unlike you, Monsieur Maxwell," she said with frigid sarcasm, "we have an interest in knowing how the hell a vampire can withstand a stake shoved through its chest, as well as several silver bullets shot through her." Duo retreated, holding up a pillow as if to fend off any harm that could be done by the blonde duchess.

Relena waved off the conversation, "It says that!" she said, after a few moments of reading silently to herself, "Right here: 'Eternally, She preys upon human flesh, living upon the luckless victims who fall under Her power, spread in a web of seduction. Each time She is killed, She returns anew, in a body she chooses as Her shell.'" Capitalized 'her'… so whoever wrote this, was extremely respectful… or extremely scared.

She put down the scroll, there was nothing else to be said on it and held up a dusty manuscript to her eyes, blowing off the thick layer of dust that covered it. When that didn't work, she wiped it away with her hands to read the blurred titling.

To Restore the Queen's Glory

She blanched, removing the temporary bindings on the sheafs of papers that made up the manuscript, and turning to the next page. "'There have always been those, vampires and humans alike who have worshipped the Queen of the Damned as She truly is, a goddess, a bringer of death, a dark angel. More times than no, has the Queen chosen Her shell from these worshippers, feeding on their beliefs. However, sometimes, She will choose a shell that best befits Her purpose, whatever that may be. She is a Queen of the Damned, and She finds pleasure in taking those most pure, under Her black wing, and distorting their purity into nothing more than dark shadows of Her own self. They are called, the Children of Darkness, seekers of Eternity.'"

"Who would worship someone who likes to kill people?" Duo mused out loud, grimacing. He noticed people staring at him, and he elaborated, "I mean, I know there's the odd cult and all, but really, it's like worshipping the Devil, isn't it?"

"I have a sneaking suspicion that that is exactly what these 'Children of Darkness' thing are. A cult." Midii's voice was heard and Relena nodded, "I agree with you." She said softly, "This is exactly what it sounds like."

"Continue reading then, Miss Relena, and we might be able to find out more."

"'The way to become the most ultimate of sacrifices is not simple. No, those who believe themselves to be worthy of carrying their Mistress in their bodies, several rituals must be undergone. They free whatever is left of their souls utterly from their minds, often making them seem crazed, often insane. Many of them are. Their minds and bodies cannot handle the strain of separation, and are unfit to continue through the remaining rituals. This is the first ritual, the separation of mind, body and soul.

"'To do this, those that deem themselves worthy, the Hunt begins. The Hunt, to kill a thousand innocents before the night is done, wringing out every last drop of blood in their mangled bodies and bathing oneself in its pool. And to bathe in this pool, to be surrounded by it, but never, ever drink even a single drop, is torture. Thus, if they know how, they will break themselves, shatter themselves into the three parts…' Hey, the rest of the ritual is missing!" Relena had just turned the page, and could see only the torn remnants of parchment, where the pages had been torn out of the manuscript.

"Did anyone else know about that library? Or was this book already like this when you got it?" she asked, looking up at Adrian. He shook his head, "I recall all the books I found were mostly intact. There are several missing scrolls, but the manuscripts should all be there. And no one but myself knew of that secret room."

"So… just a thought… but do you think they might've found out about these? That all they needed was the last part of the ritual? I mean, I think Roslyn's already insane enough for me to suspect she's finished the first part of the ritual."

"So all she needs is the next part…"

"I think so—" She was interrupted by a long wail of a scream.

"Heavens above have mercy! Lady Dorothy!" an elderly woman came rushing into the room. "That woman, that girl that was brought in from Mister Townsend's house. She suddenly began bleeding… out of nowhere, her blouse was torn open and… come quickly, Lady Dorothy. Something terrible is happening to her!"

The stampede that followed was immediate, and they were soon clustered around the pale and shaking form of Emmy, who had been rescued from the vampiresses. As they watched, gruesomely, blood began seeping in lines, making out words as if some invisible hand was wielding a knife, cutting into her flesh. The words, shining and dripping, said 'The Queen will return to Her full Glory.'

"Dear God…"

~*~*~*~

End of Chapter. Long, I know, I know. I wanted to stop after the stuff about after the little 'excursion', but well, I liked the name 'Ritual' and that didn't come in till the end. Sorry… review me anyway!