"So you don't believe that she was a vampire?" Sister Caterina adjusted her monocle as she gave Abel Nightroad a peculiar look. "But she is not a Crusnik either…"

Abel sighed, "Exactly. She said that she was from space…looking for someone or something named Tenchi." He sipped on his tea before he said more about the matter, "I think she was just lost. She had no clue what was going on or where she was…"

"You believe that she will not be a threat to the Vatican then?" she spoke in an authoritative tone of voice.

"I don't know for sure but-"

A hologram-like image of a woman dressed in white appeared in front of Caterina and Abel. "I just received word that the unidentified female being Father Nightroad and Father Tres encountered at the catacombs has been spotted. She has taken a little girl as hostage and demands to speak to someone named Tenchi."

"Thank you Sister Kate," Caterina glanced over at Abel, "Take Leon and Valclav with you…"

"Daddy…I'm scared…" cried the little girl as Ryoko held her close with her energy sword near the girl's throat.

"It's alright sweetheart, I'll make sure the vampire won't hurt you…" her father reassured his daughter in a soft voice.

Ryoko's eyes turned red, "STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

The space pirate had been wandering around the Vatican City for hours searching for Tenchi without any luck. Exhausted and hungry, she snuck into an empty kitchen through an open window, to get food and possibly some booze. The hole in her shoulder was draining most of her energy; Ryoko had no idea why it was hurting so much. She didn't realize that the silver bullet was still lodged in and she would have to pull it out before she would feel any better. While ransacking the kitchen, a little girl had come downstairs to get a glass of milk to help her sleep. Within seconds after the little girl's screaming, the father came running down the stairs with a weapon similar to Gunslinger's. Reacting quickly, Ryoko snatched the daughter and demanded to know what planet she was on and where they were holding Tenchi.

"What kind of vampire takes a little girl hostage anyway…?" snorted a voice from the doorway.

The space pirate's right hand twitched when she heard the word again. "I thought I said to STOP SAYING THAT!" Ryoko opened her right hand to create a ball of blue electricity instead of her energy sword, "I demand that you take me to Tenchi or I'll kill her."

Leon chuckled at Ryoko like she had made the threat half-heartedly, "We both know that you would never make such a stupid move like that because if you kill her – we can then kill you. You wouldn't accomplish anything that way…" he flicked his wavy black hair away from his face.

"Please just let her go. We'll help you find this Tenchi person…" Abel took a step towards her.

"You again?" Ryoko snarled as she backed up with the girl still in her clutches, "I thought I was finally rid of your pathetic hide…" she drew the ball of electricity closer to her hostage's crying face.

Abel could see her hand was shaking – the wound in her shoulder was making her weaker. "You can trust me. We can help you…" He took another cautious step closer but Ryoko did not back away this time. "Please…don't hurt her…"

The sincerity in Abel's voice made Ryoko relax her grip on the child, "I just want to go home," she whispered. Biting her lip for a moment, the space pirate finally released the little girl from her death grip. When the girl was back in her father's arms, Ryoko glanced at Abel – he had the same faint smile Tenchi always has on his face when she does something right.

Suddenly Ryoko's wounded arm twisted itself backwards and she was forced down to her knees. While she was screaming out in pain with her eyes glowing bright red, Valclav revealed himself as the one who was manipulating Ryoko's body. As she tried to break free from his grip, Leon sprinted across the room with a syringe in his hands and injected the green liquid into her exposed neck.

What's going on… Ryoko's movements were becoming sluggish. In a last valiant attempt to break free, the space pirate took a swing at Valclav's face, which missed him by centimeters, and kicked Leon square in the chest. While Leon was catching his breath, Valclav quickly pulled out his gun, pressed it against her cheek, and twisted her bleeding arm even more to keep her under control until the drugs kicked in. She lifted her head slightly to see Abel staring down at her with a sorrowful look in his blue eyes. Liar… her yellow eyes rolled to the back of her head and she finally fell unconscious.

"Phew," Leon wiped the sweat from his forehead, "She certainly put up a fight…didn't she? I thought Wordworth's tranquilizers worked instantaneously on vampires…"

"She's not a vampire…" Abel whispered as he watched her sleep.

Ryoko stared down the scientist smoking on his black pipe in complete silence. "You know," Wordworth chimed in a positive tone of voice, "The sooner you tell me what happened…the sooner we can get your wound healed…"

When she did not respond, the AX member let out a long sigh. "So we are going to play it this way…are we?" He got up out of his chair and left the inquisitorial room with a gloomy expression on his face.

Glancing over her shoulder, Ryoko narrowed her yellow eyes at Father Tres. "What are you staring at?" she snarled.

Wordworth scratched the top of his head as he shut the door behind him. "I don't know what to do…she won't say anything. She's worse than that little witch if you ask me…" He looked over to Abel, "She responded quite well to you last time…didn't she?"

What good will it do me now? I told her to trust me and when she does she is attacked from the behind… Abel nodded to his old friend in silence. He entered the inquisitorial room quietly and pulled the wooden chair right next to her. The priest could feel her yellow eyes judging him already – plotting her revenge. "I'm sorry about what happened back there…and you have the right to be angry-" Ryoko spat in his face, "-with me."

He removed his glasses and wiped them clean with the edge of his robe sleeve. "I know you are not a vampire… A vampire is a being that sucks the blood of Terrans – ordinary humans. You are something completely different, aren't you? Your powers are like nothing I've encountered before…" He was speaking of the way she controls electricity and teleports in and out of an area. "But you are vulnerable," Abel placed his glasses back on his face. "Whatever you are…you need help… That wound is draining you-"

"I am not WEAK!" Ryoko growled as she made an attempt to break free from her chains. She froze when Tres pressed one of his large guns against the back of her skull. "Why do I want your help anyways? While you're holding me prisoner, whoever took Tenchi is still out there breathing…" she glared at the humble priest.

"Who is Tenchi?"

"Tenchi is…" she seemed to go into a day dream as she searched the words to describe him. "He's a kind-hearted, clumsy human with extraordinary inhuman powers." Ryoko lowered her head in sorrow, "And I'm not there to protect him…"

The space pirate nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt Abel's hand on her bleeding shoulder, "Hey-watch it!" She flinched when he dug three of his fingers into the wound to find what was causing her so much pain.

Within seconds, Abel removed the silver bullet that was wedged into her shoulder and dropped it on the table. "This is what a bullet looks like…" he remembered how confused she was when she had been shot.

"That little thing did all of that damage…?" Ryoko looked at her shoulder and then back at the bullet. These are human weapons...but not as primitive as I remember them being... "I am on Earth at least?" she sighed with relief when he nodded. She glanced over to see her blood stained on his white glove, "So what are you then?"

Abel gave her a quizzical look, "What do you mean?"

"By your definitions…you are not a vampire nor are you a Terran," Ryoko could see the horror unfold in Abel's soft blue eyes. You really are just like Tenchi... A complete bumbling fool always getting into trouble but capable of something more when pushed to the limit.

How does she know that? Abel stared blankly at her in reply. "And what makes you think that?" he asked in a calm voice.

"You wouldn't want to kill your own kind if you were a vampire. It is obvious that they are the enemy around here," she muttered quietly. "I know you aren't Terran because you show some type of sympathy towards vampires. Besides, I can sense a demon in you..." she muttered in a low tone. Abel could feel his heart stop when she said this, "You and I are not as different as you think."

Wordworth glanced over at Sister Caterina, who had left her office to listen in on the inquisition, "The second anomaly was located in the heart of Byzantium wasn't it...?"

"We will send a team to investigate in the morning," she continued to watch the space pirate interact with the priest. "If that second anomaly is anything like this…we do not want it falling into dangerous hands."

Note to readers: Hey, I just realized that my bars used to separate the chapter's sections were not appearing correctly. I'm sorry about that. Hopefully by re-adding the bars the story will flow a little bit easier for you.

-Hunter (July 16, 2010 update)