Almost a year later, I decide to update. You know why it took so long? Because no one reviewed. One person faved. No one followed. I have to have support, so I know to keep writing. On a plus side, Viz Media just took over the license for Trinity Blood! Get excited!

CHAPTER 5: Closing In

I was always a great dancer. I felt that it was one of my best qualities. I had no specialty, but I certainly had some good moves. I suppose dancing was so much like battling that my dancing translates to my fighting skills. I once spent hours on end honing my abilities and discovering new ways to legitimately kick someone's ass while at the same time taking lessons from my ballet instructor. Now, it was time to put all that effort to use. I breathed deep, grabbed Jet's whistle from a little pouch tied to the horn of the saddle—which would summon him to me later—and patted him reassuringly. I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "Keep going, and don't look back." I leapt off his back and crouched among the leaf litter. With a grunt I leaped into the trees, winding and running across their branches. The dance had begun.

Dietrich could sense Isaak's frustration. The mage had been silent, far too silent; it was something only Dietrich could see. He caught up to Isaak and looked up at him, "A penny for your thoughts?"

"Nothing, Puppetmaster." The old mage responded rather curtly.

"Come on, Isaak. You and I both know something's bothering you." Dietrich's eyes were mocking.

"I just don't see what our lord wants with this girl. I know she's special, but why can't we just kill her? She knows too much. That's perfect grounds to kill her." Isaak's face was dark, his cigarillo had gone out due to the wind, yet he still clutched it between his fingers. He was indeed nervous.

"Yes, but you know as well as I that our Lord's orders are absolute. We are not to question them. But that's not what's really bothering you."

"That's it, Di. Nothing more."

"Now you're just lying. Please tell me."

"No," Isaak huffed.

Dietrich was persistent,"Please? For me?" The mage's eyes darkened before giving up.

"This girl, Irena, used to be Cain's second in command over me. She can do things, she's ruthless, and her powers trump mine. Her abilities go beyond anything I've ever seen. I only worry that we won't be able to bring her down. Not alive that is," Isaak sighed.

"We can if we actually try. Besides, she's slowed down considerably,"Balthasar chimed in, but kept his eyes locked ahead,"She's within our striking distance. We should mobilize our strategy now."

Isaak and Dietrich nodded at Balthasar. Isaak cracked his knuckles and paused for a moment. He drew out a knife and slashed his wrist. He replaced the blade in his boot and began to draw out a pentagram on the ground. He sighed heavily, thinking about how he was supposed to teleport them to Irena's coordinates.

Drawing the pentagram was an agonizingly long process, long enough that the clouds that floated overhead were beginning to become black with precipitation. Just as Isaak had completed the pentagram, and felt a bit dizzy from blood loss, a large shadow appeared over him. Isaak had barely enough time to look up before the shadow dropped on him, casting him to the ground on his back.

Dazed, Isaak took his time before he realized who it was who knocked him down: a well-muscled man with long blonde hair and sporting a triple pair of angel wings. He was on top of Isaak, straddling his hips with a smile on his face. Isaak's eyes widened as Cain stroked his hair,"You've taken a while, Panzer Magier. I trust you aren't having troubles."

"None my Mein Herr.." Isaak closed his eyes before opening them again,"We were about to launch our assault."

Cain smiled," Why don't I give you some assistance?"

"If you would so wish, my Lord, I would greatly appreciate it," Isaak's face was unreadable.

Cain arose and extended a hand. Isaak took it gratefully and got up only to find himself against a tree, Cain's body pressed up against him. Their foreheads touched as the Crusnik gazed into the mage's eyes threateningly,"You all go on ahead. I'll linger behind and help out where needed. I think I'll find this dance amusing."

"Yes, my Lord," Isaak lowered his eyes and walked over to Dietrich and Balthasar after Cain stepped back. "Stand on the pentagram, Dietrich." The young terran obeyed a smirk on his face. Isaak said a few words in archaic Latin, and as soon as the words spilled from his lips, Dietrich and Balthasar disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only a slight pillar of smoke that billowed into the air and slowly dissipated. An amused smile flashed on Cain's face before he backed away from Isaak, spread his set of triple white wings and took to the sky. His pale form quickly disappeared from sight as he flew high into the black storm clouds above.

Irena was sly, and she knew how to hide well in the shadows of the wooded landscape. As she made her way to the tree line she would slip into hollow trees and survey her surroundings before she actually moved to the next hiding spot. She had the speed to get to the line with little problem, but her methods to go as fast as she could were a little messy. She always made cracks in the trees or skid marks in the ground when she ran. She could go even faster than haste mode when she really tried to go for it. It was one of her special techniques she'd developed over the years, but she couldn't use it. Not if she wanted to evade us while still maintaining a level of stealth to keep her tracks invisible.

Isaak was pulled from his thoughts as he came up on Dietrich and Balthasar. He could just barely sense Irena close up ahead; she was hiding her presence very well, so well, in fact, that even he, a mage, had difficulty finding her. He lifted his head and called to Dietrich,"She's very close. About 50 meters ahead of us." Dietrich turned and looked ahead, eyes narrowed,"I don't see her."

Isaak spoke in a low tone, "She's up there. She's very good at hiding. She's almost as good as you in the shadows Dietrich," Isaak couldn't help but smile at that. It was true; Dietrich was always a little demon hiding in darkness awaiting his prey. It's one of the qualities that made Dietrich the little devil he is. It was also one of the qualities that Isaak was always attracted to.

The tree line was coming up. He could almost hear a deep rumbling, or a thunderous beat against the ground coming from his left and moving fast. He looked on his left and squinted a bit. A massive black shape was emerging from the deep forest; it looked like a prey animal, a horse perhaps? His eyes widened with immediate understanding. A horse, in the forest, running straight for their target; it must belong to young Irena.

The black shape broke into the main sight onto the more open space and immediately sped up, blasting past Dietrich and toward Irena. She had been almost invisible until she came up next to the big black horse and leaped up onto its back. They had almost blasted through the tree line…Almost… Dietrich had become useful after all…

There was a web, one that was carefully crafted by invisible strings. It was strong enough to hold its poor victims, but elusive enough to prevent to unknowing prey from evading its vile grasp. Irena was very close to going around the set of trees the web was spun between, but when Lord Cain suddenly dropped through the treetops, spreading his wings in a sudden, frantic display, the animal carrying her spooked, dashing away from our Lord just as he had intended, thus plunging both it and its rider into the devil's web, ensnaring them both.

It was almost an assured victory now, seeing as how anyone who had fallen into young Dietrich's trap would then be guaranteed no escape unless he allowed them to venture freely, but when Irena's horse began to thrash, blinded by fear, he actually broke some of the strings attaching the web to the surroundings, earning a frustrated growl from Dietrich. Soon the black horse was up, Irena still astride him, though she did not seem to be in control of him, and all Isaak could see was a silver breastplate that wrote "J E T" on it in his field of vision. His eyes widened ever so slightly before he hit the ground of his own accord to avoid getting kicked by the horse that was leaping over him; a horse named Jet apparently. It was a very appropriate name indeed.

All three men looked warily at Dietrich who stood there leaned casually against a tree, his usual smirk pulling at his lips.

Isaak raised a quizzical brow, "How are you so easy going Marrionetten Spieler?

"Oh, it's nothing, Panzer Magier," His eyes were closed.

"Oh? Nothing eh? Tell me; is it your turn to start lying now?" Isaak smiled, effectively referencing their trivial argument previously.

"I thought you knew this, I've always lied to you. I didn't think we took turns." Smart ass.

"Very well then, a penny for your thoughts?"

"I was just thinking of how that silly animal is running straight in the direction of another of my little traps. You know, the one by all the rocks?" Dietrich's eyes opened, a little glint dancing in them while Isaak could only smile at his beloved protégé.

"I taught you well, Marrionetten Spieler."

I was not having a good day. First that kid shows up and ruins my morning, then he gives me a message from Cain to invite her once more into the Rozenkruetz Orden from Hell. Next when I refuse and they come after me. Why even waste my time being formal instead of just beating down my door, bag me and go? The whole thing seemed a rather stupid way of handling things, but I supposed that's how Cain liked to operate. He always did try and keep things formal and business-like then when things inevitably didn't go his way, he just flexed his small, yet elite military force and took care of things the way they did in the old days minus the nuclear warheads, but I think that's only because of the fact that after the Armageddon, those weapons were classified as lost technologies to be left to the geniuses of historical artifacts and military technology to build—assuming they had the blueprints of course. The only thing that made this day remotely good was that I had never had this much fun since I was part of the Orden, running from various Vatican operatives with globally destructive intent. Looking back on those days now, there was never a dull moment.

Being jerked back to reality—I can't believe I let myself zone out again—I was thrown forward into rocks, a wall of black coming down on top of me. Jet's front leg had been pulled out from under him by another trap, another web of vile threads tangling us both up only this time, Jet would not be able to get up; this trap had snapped his canon.

Cain couldn't help but listen forward after the horse as they began to move, giving chase. His superior senses picked up the crash, the snap, and the high pitched squealing of the poor frightened animal. He knew the chase was over, but he had to admit: Irena hadn't changed a bit. The dance was a difficult one indeed. She was always a brilliant dancer. He should know, after all. . . .

The day had been ordinary in the Von Neuman castle. This was shortly after the take-over of the old Orden from those terrorists in northern Europe. Cain was seated in his new throne in command of his new miniature army. He was always well-fed, and Isaak took care of his body and all the boring business that came with his new position.

It was when a meeting with a few Empire officials began in the evening that things finally started to wind up a bit. The meeting was a dinner party of sorts(by Cain's request of course), and the wavering nobles of the Empire were invited to feast and dance to their hearts content while discussing a few possibilities of alliances with the Orden. The late Duchess of Saar was among them. Accompanying her to this adult gathering was her young granddaughter, Lady Irena Castellan. She was a child at this point in time. No more than 9 years of age. It was a wonder why the Duchess would even think to bring her to a place like this, no matter how friendly the intentions.

Cain walked over to them and took the Duchess' hand and kissed it gently. He did have a lot of respect for the methuselah because of the amount of support she gives the Orden. She despises terrans with as much vigor as most other members of the organization, but due to her position in the empire, she simply relays information instead of bearing the proud seal of Rozenkruetz. This too, was why he respected her. He noticed a small body hiding behind the Duchess' and looked around her to smile at the child,"Hello, there." His face was genuine and kind, but the child was not very keen on taking his greeting with the same view. To the girl, he was nothing more than a creepy old vampire, and she simply glared at him.

"She doesn't take kindly to strangers, does she, Duchess?" Ganna sighed heavily in response and shook her head.

"She does not. It's a shame. She's been like this since her parents died. She's very cold in nature, and I just haven't been able to see her smile once." Ganna's voice trailed off as her eyes turned very sad. Irena hardened her glare further but pointed it towards her grandmother instead. When Ganna noticed, she quickly withdrew her gaze and stood straighter, almost as if she was afraid.

"Well, what is her name, Milady?" Cain tilted his head curiously. Isaak Fernand von Kampfer chimed in before the Duchess could answer.

"Her name is Irena Castellan, heiress to the Duchess of Saar's estate and position. She is very young, but I understand that she is well learnt in noble practices already due to your excellency's superior mentoring. Am I correct?" he had approached from across the room while he spoke.

"Impressive that you know all of that, Isaak. Yes, she has been trained well thus far. Dancing, I must say is probably her strongest asset. She always impressed her private tutor with her skills when she was younger," the Duchess' eyes shone with pride at how wonderful of a job she had done with the child.

"Well, if she's as good as you say she is, certainly she would have no trouble dancing now," Cain was quite enthusiastic when he took her hand," Would you like to dance, Milady?" Irena gaped a bit and then nodded before following him out onto the floor. A waltz was playing. She was great at the waltz. Cain was much taller than the girl, but she danced with him slowly like a father dancing with his own child. She didn't step on his feet at all as she followed his lead. Isaak nodded his approval as he saw the two. His Lord could be a kind and nurturing figure when it came to children, and the mage couldn't help but smile a bit. After that, the Duchess would always bring Irena to their parties and she would once again dance with our Lord. It quickly turned into something she looked forward to, until that day, years ago when the Duchess passed away by her granddaughter's own hands. …