A/N: All right, since my last update was only hours ago, I have no news to bring you up on. Curse sickness.
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever, own Trinity Blood.
Bored. Bored. Very bored. Stella sat alone at a desk watching little metal balls knock into each other. Father Nightroad had left an hour ago to attend to something concerning his report and she had been left alone with Tres. Might as well do something useful. She thought.
She stood up and made for the door, only to find Tres blocking her. Great.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting a glass of water, is that so bad?" She smiled sweetly out of habit, knowing full well it wouldn't help the situation.
Tres stared at her for a long moment before announcing her would get the 'required material'. After he had left, Stella rolled her eyes. When the android returned with the drink, she put it on the desk and once again sat on the chair. Tres, who was standing at the far wall, would not be able to see it. She doubted her would go as far as trying to see though her with his cybernetic eye.
She closed her eyed and concentrated. She tried to imagine where the water might have come from, but soon realized she couldn't. Frowning, she thought a moment before turning to Tres.
"Father, Tres? Do you have any idea where this water might have come from?"
Tres blinked. Stella guessed this was as close as he had ever come to actually looking surprised. Finally, he said, "The kitchen faucet."
Stella knew she would have to elaborate if she was going to get anywhere. "Do you know where the city gets its water?"
"Various places." Tres said shortly.
Shrugging, Stella turned around. Knowing where the water came from was not exactlynecessary, but she always had liked it. Once again she concentrated. She thought of the glaciers she had seen as a child. When she opened her eyes, the water had frozen. Sighing, she relaxed. The water went back to its original form.
That being down, Stella was at a loss of what to do. She couldn't practice more, Tres would see. Hanging her head in acceptance of boredom, she pulled one of the metal balls on the device in front of her back, and sent it flying into the next.
"Have you found anything out about the girl?"
Abel shrugged. "I know Stella," he put emphasis on the name; he wanted to show the Cardinal she should at least call the girl by her name, "eats very little, of course she only might have been watching me eat. Oh! I know that she either had excellent hearing or can tell when someone new is in the vicinity. Or maybe Father Leon is just loud…"
"Are all of your findings contradictory!?" Kate snapped.
"errm… Yes?" Abel said meekly.
"Are you asking me or telling me?" Cardinal Kate said in a dangerously calm voice
"Uh… telling?"
Cardinal Kate sighed and rubbed her temples, a habit she had picked up from Catharine. "Fine. Every night after Stella has gone to sleep you will report to me with something new."
"Errr…"
"Yes?" Kate looked back up at him with all the patience of a mother.
"What about the foreign country?" Abel had been wondering about that since they had first gotten on the boat.
Kate sighed heavily. "To tell you the truth, Abel, don't know. We may very well be off to another war. I'll have to talk to the Pope about it tomorrow. You are dismissed."
Abel left, deep in thought. Another war. He thought wearily. No doubt I will be involved in some way or the other. I wonder what Stella will think. He walked down the hall and into the room he left Stella and Tres in.
"Father Nightroad." Stella smiled brightly as she turned around to greet him.
She was answered with a loud growl from his stomach.
"Honestly, Father, we just had lunch three hours ago." She said rolling her eyes while putting her hands on her hips.
"My dear!" exclaimed Father Abel, shocked. "Three hours is like an eternity to this monster called a belly."
"Come on, let's go see if we can beg some food from the poor nuns an priests working in the kitchens." Stella said, still chuckling.
As she made her way to the door, Abel stopped her. "Actually, you and I need to have a talk. I suggest that while we talk, we eat." Abel smiled goofily. "We can go to my favorite restaurant. Father Tres, will you inform Father Leon that we will be along soon?"
"Affirmative." Tres left the room.
An hour later, Abel and Stella were sitting at a table in a small restaurant. Stella looked immensely uneasy as she ordered her food. After the waitress left, Abel put his fingertips together and tried to think about how to ask her about her life.
"You want to ask me about my country and my life." Stella said, looking down.
Abel was surprised. Was he really that obvious? Or was Stella unnaturally smart? He decided it was the latter. "Well… er…. I have to go to the bathroom!" Abel blurted out so loud that everyone in the restaurant felt the need to turn and stare at the pair.
Abel hurried to get up and in the process, stumbled over his own feet. He burst into the bathroom and ran some cold water. Splashing his face, he immersed himself I his thoughts. Why am I so flustered? Am I really that afraid of the unknown? It's not like she wants me dead. She saved me and has had dozens of opportunities to kill me.
Drying his face with a rough paper towel, he went back to the dining room. Stella was holding something around her neck. As he slid into the seat, Stella didn't look up. He cleared his throat. Her eyes remained fixated on the object.
"Stella?"
Stella snapped her head up. "Sorry."
Abel waved it away. "So, what is that?"
Stella whispered, "It's my brother's necklace."
"May I see it?" Abel asked quietly as his interest grew.
Stella seemed reluctant to give it to him, but with a furtive glance around her, she unclasped it and handed it to Abel. It was an interesting piece of work. The chain was slightly heavy with links a little larger than the norm. That wasn't the interesting part. The pendant was a crude heart, the humps arched only slightly and the bottom point coming to a definitive, well, point. The heart was cut so that eight small triangles lifted to it, creating strange angles and different points of light. The gem itself was a beautiful red-golden that changed color as it shifted in Abel's fingers.
"It's beautiful. What is the stone?"
Stella shifted uncomfortably. "It is a… erm… species' blood."
Abel looked up from the gem. "And what species would that be?"
Stella bit her lip. She leaned forward conspirately. "It is… my father's and older brother's blood. And…" She froze and sat back in her seat.
"Well here you go dearies." The waitress was back.
Mentally cursing her for her timing, Abel smiled and accepted a plate from her graciously as Stella accepted a cup to steaming tea. "Thank you my dear lady."
When she had gone Abel, ignoring his food for once, leaned forward. "So, what were you going to say?"
Stella gave him a withering look. "You are not going to let this go, are you?"
"No, I suppose not." Abel smiled at her.
Stella lowered her eyes. "Long before my parents were…. born, there was a… well, for lack of better word, creature, made to kill vampires. There many of them and they were forcibly migrating or something, but one managed to get away. My father and brother were sent to kill him… but…" Stella's voice broke. Sniffling, she uttered the last few sentences out. "My father and brother and the man made a pact. They each had their necklaces filled with each other's and their own blood. But when they found out…." Stella was struggling not to sob. She stood. "Father, I'm sorry, if you will excuse me…"
Stella got up hastily and, snatching back her necklace ran off through the diner and into the night. Abel rose.
"Stella!"
A/N: Hi. So, I got out another chapter. Did everyone understand my explanation of the necklace? It you didn't I'll upload a picture to my profile. If you understand or have a pretty good mental picture yourself, please tell me not to bother.
Did everybody like? I'm happy to say that this story gets more reviews than any other story.