To Long Term readers: If you reviewed the pervious chapter of this book (long before this chapter was posted) you will be unable to review this chapter unless you are a guest. I am sorry about this, but I don't want parts in the stories anymore. Though I suppose the warning is only for Bluewings there.

All replies to guests' reviews made on this chapter will be responded to at the bottom of the next chapter under the author's notes.

Abel rolled over on the floorspace he had been given to sleep on. 02's voice hummed through him. Thirst clawed at him, scraping in time to 02's taunting, hissing words. Abel closed his eyes. Sleep wouldn't come but he wanted nothing more than for it to do so. If only to block out 02's voice for a few hours.

Did he really want to relive Lilith's death over and over again as he attempted to sleep?

No.

Not even for the solace it would bring with 02 finally shutting up.

Lilith.

Abel pressed his hands to head. He curled into a tight ball. Pain pulsed through him, radiating out from his head. His eyes burned. He gritted his teeth.

Had his beloved lived through this as well? The constant, nagging thirst. It was pure torment. A torment he deserved, but not one she had ever deserved.

The soft sound of the door opening cut through Abel's aching skull. A small groan fled his lips.

"Ha, I told you lot this was where his Holiness was keeping his monster." The voice was jarring, snide. It dripped with contempt for what he believed Abel to be.

Abel lowered his hands from his ears. He straightened, glad he hadn't removed the mask in his failed attempt at sleep. He watched the group of Inquisition brothers file into the room. There were five in total and one sister. A shiver raced through Abel. This wasn't good.

The five brothers moved in around Abel while the sister stood back to watch.

Abel's muscles tensed.

He couldn't act. If he did it would be all too clear he wasn't terran but something closer to a returner. Abel took a deep breath. He couldn't react. He wasn't an emperor. He was a slave.

"What do you have to say for yourself, vampire?" sneered the leader of the group.

Abel closed his eyes and braced himself. He was a slave.

Pain lanced through his gut as the sheathed sword came down on him. Abel curled with this impact. If they had used their fists it would have caused problems. This was better.

Well, better for the pope.

Abel forced himself to curl back into a ball on the ground. His arms wrapped around the mask to avoid having it damaged.

Sheathed weapons belted down at him in a rain from above.

Don't react. The words echoed through his mind, mixing with the hissing rage from 02. They wanted him to lash out at the terran who were beating them.

No.

Abel squeezed his eyes tighter.

He was a slave. He had no right to retaliate.

"Come on!" The leader rammed the sheathed blade into Abel's ribs. A soft crack echoed the sudden lancing pain.

Abel coughed. The metallic flavor of his blood slipped between his lips.

"Tch." The leader straightened. "I guess he's not a vampire after all."

Abel took a deep breath. Fire lanced through his ribs at the act. It would heal. The rain of the sheathes striking him had vanished.

"Come on." Boots tapped against the metal floor. Darkness fell over the space.

Abel coughed. He uncurled from the ball. Each slight move caused pain to lance through his lanky form.

It was over. For now, at least.

Abel pulled himself to feet. Blood tapped against the metal floor.

Damn.

A small breath escaped him. He wiped the blood from his mouth. There was no way he would let Gregory see what had happened to Abel. Right now, the pope was the only ally he had. Even if he was technically Abel's master.

Pain leaked through him as Abel straightened. This was nothing. He had fought through worse pain back on Mars and showed himself as the leader had needed to be back then.

A hallow laugh escaped him. As if Abel needed to appear the image of the leader now. No, instead he needed to be the slave. The one who bowed their head and went about the day's work without anyone knowing the wiser what had happened to him. It was the same, yet different. He didn't need to hold himself erect or put on a brave face. All he needed to do was pretend he wasn't hurt and continue to stand guard for Gregory.

Abel straightened. It was easy to not reach his full height with the damage done to his ribs. He hunched his back to stop some of the pulsing pain.

There was no point in waiting around here for the rest of his "break" to be over.

Abel left the room.

Mars. A small smile twitched at his lips. Perhaps this really was similar to some of the times Abel had faced back then, just being in an opposite position.

The smile faded.

His people had trusted him and the rest of Abel's family. Yet, it was because of Abel, because he couldn't fight for their rights, all of his people were fused with the bacillus in the first place.

After Solomon's fusion had gone far better than anyone excepted, the UN had contacted Abel and – Abel forced down the searing heat which pulsed through his veins – Cain. They had ordered them to fuse the entire colony with the bacillus. Not just the volunteers, but those who had shown no interest in having an alien machine in them.

Abel's eyes narrowed. The familiar ache in his heart deepened until it was a far more painful wound than the one to his ribs.

There had been nothing the four of them could do. They had argued with the UN, but in the end, Abel, his siblings, and Lilith were bound to obey their orders. Back then they had wanted nothing more than to prove themselves to the UN so they wouldn't be disposed of or used in further experiments when they returned to Earth.

It was silly to think about such fears now. Not with all which had happened.

Lilith was gone.

Killed at the hand of Abel's own twin brother.

Cain had long since been lost to Abel through the insanity for being fused with 01.

Now, even Seth was lost to Abel. He would never again see his sweet sister.

If Abel had only fought harder, perhaps, just perhaps, none of this would have happened. The war on Mars could have been far less bloody, they wouldn't have lost the original colony ship and been trapped there for eighty years, and so much more pain could have been avoided. In the end, his leadership, even when he had been only the head of security, had brought so much more pain to his people and his family than even Cain's had.

A scowl pulled at his lips.

Cain.

Abel shoved back the image thoughts of his so-called brother invoked. Cain was gone. Lilith was gone. There was no point in dwelling on the past. Not as long as in the present he could see to it his people never suffered through another war.

Abel had reached where the pope was on the ship currently. He placed himself into a position to guard the pope.

People had gathered to speak with his Holiness. Abel kept his gaze from locking on the boy he had once called friend and had mentored so many years ago. Instead he skimmed the growing crowd for any threat to his Holiness.

All was quiet. None moved in a threatening manner as they approached the pope.

A sliver of silver flashed in the artificial light. It vanished into the crowd.

There.

Abel's gaze locked onto movement partway through the crowd. The silver glittered from a narrow strip of an unsheathed knife. His gaze flickered away from the figure to where the pope stood surrounded by the Inquisition forces.

None of the Inquisition had noticed the would-be assassin making their way towards Gregory.

Abel broke away from his position closer to the door. He moved his way through the crowd. His gaze never once left the assassin.

Each step drew Abel closer to the man.

There was no way Abel would this assassin kill Gregory.

The knife slid further from the hidden sheath. The assassin was almost level with Gregory now.

The Inquisition took no notice.

Abel lunged.

"What the!" The assassin exclaimed.

They fell to the ground. Abel's hand locked around the wrist of the assassin.

"Get off!" shrieked the assassin.

His arm lashed back.

Abel gasped. Searing hot pain lanced through his broken rib. His grip loosened.

No!

Abel forced his hands to remain locked around the wrist of the hand which held the dagger.

People screamed.

There was back stamped to get away from the assassin and Abel.

The Inquisition closed ranks around Gregory.

"The pope must die!" the assassin screamed as he fought against Abel's hold.

Abel forced the assassin to his feet. He twisted the wrist.

A scream filled the air, drowning the sound of snapping bone. The dagger clattered to the ground.

"His Holiness won't die," Abel hissed into the ear of the assassin, "by yours or any other's hand."

"Well done, Angel," Gregory parsed, calling Abel by the damned codename he had given Abel.

Abel fought against a scowl. He bowed his head to the pope.

An Inquisition member moved forward and took the assassin from Abel.

"Holiness." The other members lead Gregory away from the crowd.

Abel followed but stopped just outside the door with another member of the Inquisition. He could still the voices from the other room.

"Holiness, we're calling off this trip and returning to Rome. It's far too dangerous. If your," – the familiar voice of the man who had led those in Abel's assault paused – "agent hadn't been here, we might not have stopped the assassin before it was too late."

"No," Gregory shot down the idea. "I promised I would travel among the people—"

"No disrespect, your Holiness, but the next time we might not be so lucky," said another of the Inquisition. "You could die if you press going forward with this plan."

Silence greeted these words.

"Without the black lady saint here, you are far more vulnerable than you were back during the war."

Lilith.

Pain lanced deep into Abel. His beloved might have just stood where Abel was, doing what Abel was now doing.

"Very well," Gregory conceded.

x – Two Months Later – x

x – Solomon – x

News had trickled in from the Vatican on an attempted murder of the pope. Solomon let out a breath. There was no sign of the attempt being blamed on the empire. This didn't mean there wouldn't be whispers about such being the case. It would place yet another dampener on a peace meeting with the pope.

Solomon lowered the report and stared out the darkened window. The new moon cast the world and the empire into a deep darkness, broken only by the lights on the street below.

Time flowed faster outside of the empire than it did within. With no trips outside of the empire's boarder since Abel had given himself to the Vatican, it was getting harder to keep track of time which went by. Yet, time was all Solomon had. Between his work as a leader of military affairs, the new work as a duke, and helping with the projects Seth had going, time flowed faster than it should have.

Two months had flown by in the blink of eye. Two months with little progress being made on the vial of blood and notes Thomas had given Solomon.

Even if he still had two centuries, if two months could go by so quickly, then what would two centuries be like? His heart flickered.

Solomon shoved down the thought and the flicker of fear. This was no time to doubt. He could still work on the project on the evenings he had free.

A small smile twitched at the corner of lip. The only betrayal of sudden amusement. Free time was something Solomon didn't have.

Solomon rose.

He needed to see to getting the protective shielding over the city to night. The particles would make it easier on everyone who called the city home as well as on him. While the others had yet to be deployed as well, it would mean one less task on his workload.

The trip to where the deployment of the particle shielding wasn't a long one. Solomon stepped out to join Augusta and a few of the scientists who were working on the deployment.

"I thought you slept in," Augusta commented, her voice distorted as always with the veil hiding her face from view.

Barack stood close to Augusta along with several more of the yeniçeri.

"No, your Majesty." Solomon bowed low to Augusta. His heart twisted. Even referring to her by another outside of Seth ached. She was his one true love. The only woman to ever hold a place in his heart. "I was reading the reports gathered from outside of the empire."

"And?" Augusta pressed, her voice clipped.

"There was an attempted assassination on Pope Gregory two months ago," Solomon informed her without raising.

"Are there any signs they blame my people for it?"

"No, your majesty. I will keep an eye on our boards in case such a situation was to occur."

The slightest movement of the hat showed Augusta had nodded. "Good. Please join Jaya's group. They're falling behind on getting part of the shield ready."

"Very well, your Majesty." Solomon bowed once more before he stood. He consulted his tablet to see just where Jaya's group was stationed. Jaya wasn't too far from their current location. It would be just a short walk over to her.

The cool air pulled at Solomon's military uniform as he crossed the open field towards the nearest team outside of the empress's. The field would be deployed from Alexander's airship, but they needed have the stabilizers and generators in place and working before that was possible. These would be able to be moved as the empire grew. It would mean updating the particles as well.

Jaya was a young woman from his home nation of India. She had been the youngest member of the science department under Seth, being only fifteen when they had headed for Mars. Her parents had come along as well. Outside of the fact one of her parents had died during the Civil War, Solomon knew next to nothing about the woman outside of her abilities as a scientist. She wasn't as well respected as Thema was, but still good at what she did.

One working close to Jaya tapped her on the shoulder and pointed. She turned and blinked. A slight tinge appeared on her face. "Solomon." The flush deepened. "I mean Duke Solomon."

The way she was acting was off from the first time Solomon had briefly met her back on Mars. It was that of a girl with a high school crush. Or so he would assume, having not been in high school since he was six.

"Empress Vladika informed me your team was having an issue with the generator." Solomon locked gazes with her.

Jaya looked away and coughed. "Yes," she stammered. "It isn't connecting with the stabilizer and will cause issues once the particle field is deployed if won't do so."

"May I?" Solomon gestured to the two devices.

"Of course!" Jaya moved. "Give the duke space," she ordered her crew.

They stood and stepped away to join Jaya.

Solomon knelt before the two devices. Power levels on the generator were good as was the connector meant to go into the stabilizer. He turned his attention to the stabilizer. The problem was bluntly obvious the moment his gaze shifted to it.

"You have grass jammed into the connector," he informed Jaya and her crew. He peeled the grass from the connection. Solomon stood and dropped the grass chunks. He looked to Jaya and her team. "Check it over before you connect them to make certain none of the parts have been compromised."

"Understood, my lord." Jaya bowed to him. Her face now beat red.

"If there are more issues, contact me."

A small smile appeared on her face. "Of course."

Solomon headed back to where Augusta was.

"So?" Augusta asked without turning to him.

"It was just grass."

"And?"

And what? Solomon looked at Augusta.

A small breath escaped her. "Did you notice Jaya?"

"What about her?"

"She likes you."

"And?" This had nothing to do with deployment of the particle field.

"And you can't stay single, Solomon," Augusta huffed, sounding more like Seth than the regal woman she was trying to portray.

He could and would. There was only one-woman Solomon loved and he was standing beside her. He forced back saying this aloud. It could very well reveal Augusta's identity to those few around them who didn't know she was Seth.

"Duke Solomon," the title rang hallow, "you won't live forever. You must take a wife and have your line continue lest we loss the line for the Dukedom of Tigris."

His heart twisted. This was the last matter Solomon ever wanted his love to tell him. To sleep with another woman. And, yet, he couldn't deny she had point. The entire point of having nobles was to keep the empire secure and safe for generations to come. He had been given Tigris which would rest in a key location once the land had been cleared of the radiation.

Solomon closed his eyes. There was no choice. There never had been. And if he had to take a wife, perhaps Jaya was the right choice in the mater. At the very least, she liked science.

"I will speak with her this evening," Solomon conceded.

"Good." Solomon could just hear the smile in Augusta's voice.

She shouldn't have been smiling.

Solomon couldn't look at his love. He kept his gaze locked on the empire, heart heavy.

x – Aran – x

An airship hovered over the city. It remained still as if it were made of stone and grounded to Earth not floating in the air high above Aran. His dad should have been here for this.

Aran tore his gaze from the airship. He could barely make out the island where his dad's grave stood empty at the crest of the hill. Empty, for all eternity. There would no recovering his body. No going to the grave and knowing his dad rested there for the rest of time. His dad was gone. Worse than dead with nothing remaining of him.

"It's beautiful out tonight."

Aran grunted at the sound of his brother's voice.

"This will be a great turning point for the empire. Imagine, everyone being out when the sun is without fear of it harming them."

Aran flipped open his book.

"Aran?"

"Go away."

"All right, what's been bugging you?" Azul settled himself onto the stone bench.

Aran's hand balled into a fist around the cover of the text book.

"Aran? You need to talk to me. You've been so quiet since father's death."

"You! You are what's bugging me," Aran snapped.

"What?" Azul blinked.

"How could you take that traitor's name?! How could you forget everything dad did for us?!" His eye burned as he glared at Azul.

"I'm not forgetting dad. We can't keep his surname, Aran."

"I don't care what anyone says! I'm a Nightlord not a Fortuna." Aran jabbed his finger into his brother's chest. "And you are betraying father's memory by taking the name Fortuna."

"I am Abel's son," Azul defended himself.

"If you really were you would have accepted the fact dad wanted you as the next ruler of the empire!"

"Father never once said that."

"He did."

"When?"

Aran glared at his brother. "Every day when he told us how proud he was of us."

"But Aunt Seth—"

"Shut up! I don't care Aunt Seth will make a great ruler." Aran stood. A soft thump came from his text book falling to the ground. "Not only are giving up your name but she is as well."

"Aran—"

"Don't Aran me!"

"It's not we're giving up our names. I am Abel's son."

Aran turned on his heel. He was done listening to this. He left his brother, no longer wanting to watch the launch of the particle shield his aunt and uncle had been working on.

No one even cared anymore. Everything Abel had worked for came to naught in the harsh truth Abel would never again be able to be there for his people. But Aran could be. He could do what his parents had died for. He could see to it peace came between the empire and the rest of the world. All he needed to do was stop working in the hospital and ask to be trained as an agent his aunt could use for the sake of the empire.

For peace.

(Author's Note: No more parts to the stories. I finally finished editing the last story which is being updated to not have parts in it. They were just a waste of a chapter and made me feel bad whenever I placed them into a story.

I am back to the main series of fan-fictions. I wasn't working on this one because it is way less popular than the others. Though, I am just guessing it has to do with so many OCs in this book compared to the others.)