A/N: No guesses at what The Big Twist is, huh? Man, you guys have no imagination.

Disclaimer: Fish Murderer!

Stella felt disgusted at what she just did, but it was necessary and she was quiet. She strode the streets, knowing that the troops were not a trouble for another hour because it was time for them to eat. She ran through the streets in silence for a few minutes before stopping to allow Abel to catch his breath.

"We have to make it to the castle in the next few minutes." Stella said. I know you're tired, but…"

"But nothing. We have to go and I'll move fast." Abel interrupted.

Stella could tell that he was upset about something, but she figured that it was what she did back at the Harrison house. She let it be and began to run again. He heart lifted at the sight of the castle. There were no walls, and barely any guard. This would be easy until they got last few legs of their mission.

Stella slit the throats of a few of the guards, hid them and pushed Abel into a small servant's entrance. The servants were all serving the guards and would be gone for the next hour taking care of evening chores. Abel caught his breath and looked at a wall, stone-faced. He sat down quietly on a large, over-turned bucket. Stella felt extremely guilty.

"Abel…" she started.

"Don't ask me to stay behind, Stella." Abel said sharply.

"Abel, I wasn't going to do that, I know you can handle seeing someone killed, but can you… handle killing? I mean, you're facing mental scaration for life. You're just an innocent priest, and I don't want you to get hurt mentally or physically."

"I am nowhere near innocent." Abel muttered darkly.

If she wasn't a Titan or even if she had not told Abel about her uniqueness, she would have let it go. but things being as they were, Stella looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Abel looked at her nervously and sweat dropped. He turned from serious to the old, clumsy, scatter-brained priest in seconds. "Eh? Er… nothing." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned goofily.

Stella, not quite believing him, rolled her eyes anyway and said, "All right then, we're going to be off in an hour, you can rest until then."

"Hm? Why are we waiting so long, shouldn't we get this over with as soon as possible?"

"Because we are going up," Stella jerked her thumb upwards, "and in an hour, all the servants, who are trained first as guards, will be coming down. In his old age, the Emperor has become lax in his safety and has ordered for everyone to be below or on the second floor after a certain time. We will sneak out then and no one will be any the wiser once we get to the third floor." Stella started rummaging around. Finding what she wanted, she flung a few apples at Abel. (One hit him in the head and knocked him off the over-turned bucket.) "Eat. You need energy and the sooner you eat, the sooner your body can convert that into energy. With a metabolism like yours, you should be good after a few apples."

They ate the apples in silence. Later, Stella heard footsteps and pulled Abel out of the room and behind a column. She watched carefully to see where two servants came from. When they had disappeared behind the servant's quarter's doors, she rushed Abel up the steps and hid behind yet another column.

They continued like this until Stella recognized the place that was two stories from the top, which was the Emperor's own quarters. She felt her heart clench. Somewhere, around here, she was born and raised and had lived all her happy times. No, I've had fun since I met Father Abel. She thought, realizing that the past week or so was the first time she had been truly happy since she was ten.

She went through the halls from memory now, walking through winding corridors (for they were well within the tower now) and up short flights of steps. She felt the presence of perhaps ten or so men ahead and inwardly groaned. They were strong men, all agile and quick. Besides that, there was hardly any earth to work with and absolutely no water. It would have to be fists, then.

"Abel, there are men around this next bend." She whispered, stooping him. "You must be careful, they are fast and dangerous and…" She felt ahead again, "… all of them are Methuselah. I'll try to reason with them, but they are between us and the only flight of steps that leads to this country's liberation. I'll do what I must and you do the same. Be careful."

He nodded, but looked confused. "Why don't you just show them your necklace?" He asked.

Stella sighed, dreading the answer that she knew she would have to give him eventually. "As the years have gone on, the vampires have forgotten about the pact or have just thought that they are more powerful than a pact made in Crusnick's and Titan's blood. However wrong they may be, every passing generation is more and more arrogant. I'm afraid that most ahead are rather young." She bravely started walking forward again.

When they turned a corner, one of the vampires stepped forward. Stella could practically hear the saliva in his mouth as he looked at them. "Finally, some Terran fools." He slavered. "Won't be a good fight, but it'll be a good feast."

"Don't mistake me for a Terran." Stella said dangerously. She held out her necklace as it glinted in the candlelight. There were some whispers and more than one face looked hesitant, but Stella knew that it would wear off.

"Stop your whispering! Can't you see, there are only two?! Besides, the girl can't very well protect her friend, can she?" the lead vampire snarled again.

So much for reasoning. Thought Stella as she pulled forth a silver dagger. She cut the first three's abdomens and with a defeated sigh, readied herself for battle.

Five rushed her at once. Stella slashed the first tow and they fell behind her with a thunk. She jumped, landed on the next one's head and pushed off. The man's neck snapped. Without looking behind her, she slashed the last tow throats. Both died, but the other three were getting up. As they recovered, Stella glanced around for Abel.

He was fighting off four, shooting at them. His bullets were slowing them down, being silver as they were, but he would soon run out. To Stella's horror, the last vampire snuck up behind Abel, pulling him by his hair and putting his own gun to his head.

One of Stella's vampires tackled her to the ground. She could have easily thrown him off, but was worried for her friend's safety. The one holding Abel yelled out a curt order, and Stella's arms were pinned behind her back. She was hauled to her feet and glared at everyone in the room. Damn it, Abel! I could have handled them all. If you would just get away from that guy, they'll all be dead in seconds. She thought vehemently.

The rest of the vampires stood. Four did not get up. The lead vampire handed Abel off to another. He stepped over to Stella and cupped her face in his hand. She pulled away and spat in his face.

An unamused glare met her when she looked back. The vampire wiped the saliva off his face. "Hmmm, four of us are dead. Three by you and one by your friend." He moved his head down and whispered, so that his breath tickled her ear. "You will die and your Terran friend will be sold as a slave. Resist and he dies."

Without another word, the dagger that had been dropped to the floor was brought up and plunged into Stella's chest. The room spun. The last thing Stella heard as she dropped to the floor was….

"Crusnick nanomachines: forty percent. Accepted."

A/N: well, we all know what is going to happen next, Abel's gonna kick their…

Abel: warningly Songsiren….

Me: All right. Anyway, guess what the twist is, it'll be in the next chapter.

Stella: Hey! What about me!

Me: Bye! Runs away