Trinity Blood Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Sacrifice ❯ Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter Seven

 

Abel hunched down a little in his hiding place, and sighed, pushing a wet clump of hair from his eyes. The storm clouds that had been gathering for the two past days had finally unleashed their wrath on the world below. It was no coincidence, as far as the priest was concerned, that the storm had waited until he and León had already started their stakeouts on the two churches.

León had already been grumbling by the end of the first day, the rain only adding to his complaints as their watch segued into a second day and night. It wasn't so much the weather that he disliked as much as the inactivity, the brunette man having a great dislike for sitting idle, a trait that made his time in prison seem like being sentenced to hell. The two kept in radio contact, checking in regularly with one another, though neither had anything to report. Abel did what he could to try and help ease León some, but there was little he could say. Although he was decidedly more patient than his partner, Abel wasn't enjoying this particular stakeout at all, and had already decided that if too much more time passed with nothing, he'd suggest they give it up and figure out something else.

 

 

Huddled within his robes, León's shoulders were hunched against the rain, his brown eyes trained on the hedge of overgrown shrubs just below his vantage point. Though it was raining quite steadily, he still had a relatively good view and would be able to see anyone approaching the hidden entrance on the other side of the hedge. Abel was positioned similarly, though he was at the other church clear across town, tucked into a small cubby where his dark uniform would ensure he stayed hidden. He reached up and pressed a button, activating his radio. "Anything yet?" he asked softly.

A grunt was the first response. "Only an idiot would be out in this weather." León's voice crackled over the communicator.

"I'll take that as a no," Abel said, smiling weakly.

"I think we're just wasting our time," the other man continued on. "At least until this weather breaks."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Abel said, "If I was going to try something, this weather would be perfect for it."

"If you were go to try something that involved fish maybe."

"Maybe, I..." Abel trailed off, frowning a little as he squinted through his rain-speckled lenses into the darkness.

"Abel?" León's voice sounded in his ear.

"A moment, León," Abel said, moving just a little to get a better view. "I think my patience might have paid off..."

On his end, the brunette frowned, wondering what was going on.

Abel took his hand down away from the radio, creeping silently from his hiding place to try and get a closer look. The door to the tunnel had opened, and a dark figure slipped out. Abel frowned. How in the world did he sneak in there without my seeing? He thought.

As the priest continued to watch, another figure slipped out, this one decidedly more slender than the first, and the two began making their way back down the street from where the tunnel let out. Abel reached up, tapping a button on his radio. "Are you still there?" He asked in a whisper.

"Where else am I going to be?" León asked in response. "Someplace dry and warm?"

"Listen," Abel said softly. "I've got two unidentified individuals coming out of my church. I didn't see them go in... I'm going to try and follow them."

"Want me to join you?"

"Yes," Abel said, rattling off his current location. "I'll try to keep you informed as we move, but keep out of sight, just in case."

"Gotcha."

 

Abel let his hand drop away from his radio then, and emerged from his hiding place. He followed the two strangers as they wound their way through the tangle of Valentia's streets. Abel kept to the shadows mostly, trusting in his dark robes and the pelting rain to keep him hidden in the darkness. When he could spare a moment, and could risk speaking without being heard, he would radio his position to León, before hurrying to catch up with the two again, rarely waiting to make sure the other man was getting his brief broadcasts.

Eventually, he and his quarry emerged from the streets into a section of town near the unspoken border between the Terran and Methuselah parts of the city. The buildings here were old, but in decent repair, except for a massive structure in the center of a circular plaza, a structure that looked like it might have been a church at one time. But this church, unlike the others Abel and León had seen, was badly in need of repair. Many of the stained glass windows were broken; much of the stonework was crumbling. It looked like something right out of a gothic horror story to Abel, who shivered a little at the sight of it.

When he saw the two he had been pursuing walking into that dilapidated shell, however, the priest frowned. Reaching up, he tapped his radio again. "My two mysterious friends have just headed into a church. I'm right in between the Terran and Methuselah sections of the city. I'm going to follow them."

Without waiting for León to respond, Abel dropped his hand away from his radio again. As he neared the front of the church, his eyes swept back and forth, his hands tucked into his robes now, one of them resting comfortably on the pistol he carried. He didn't see any kind of cameras, but he knew better than to assume there weren't any. Exhaling a soft breath, he felt another twinge of nerves when he saw the front door had been left ajar. Whether this was to keep up the appearance of an abandoned building, or a silent invitation for the priest to follow his quarry, Abel wasn't really sure. Given the sinking feeling in his stomach, however, he had a feeling it was more than likely the latter.

He hesitated for a few moments. Abel knew he should wait for León to join him, but he wasn't sure he actually had that kind of time. He also didn't think anything would really come up that he wouldn't be able to handle on his own. In the end, it was the pressing instinct that he couldn't afford to wait that made Abel grip his gun a little tighter, and slip into the church.

The interior was nearly as dark as the exterior had been, as Abel entered silently. There was no sign of his quarry now, and that bothered the priest, his stomach knotting tightly. Instincts honed by years of doing this kind of work were starting to rouse, and he couldn't help but feel like the situation was rapidly turning against him, in spite of the fact that he didn't see any evidence that the two he'd been pursuing had noticed him. It was only when he saw the gleam of a gun barrel that he realized they knew he was there, and with a hollow thowk, Abel felt a sharp pain in his arm, and the room almost immediately began to tilt at an odd angle. I've been drugged, the priest thought, and felt for his radio with a hand that was rapidly going numb. "León?" He murmured.

No answer.

"...León?"

Still nothing.

Abel repressed the urge to curse as he took a step forward, and nearly stumbled over his own feet. Already, he couldn't summon the concentration to call on the Crusnik, which might have been enough to flush the tranquilizer from his system. And as he felt his balance go, and was dimly aware of the ground rushing up to meet him, Abel wondered if León was very far away.

Then there was nothing but darkness.

 

 

Cursing both the weather and his partner, León grumbled his way through the twisting streets of Valentia, his broad shoulders hunched against the rain. Abel's sporadic communications only made the dark-haired man grumble even more. Each time that León tried to caution him to wait; he was cut off before the words could barely form on his tongue. Though the priest had given him directions during his short messages, in the darkness and drenching rain, León had found himself lost more than once, something that did little to improve his disposition.

"RRRRRRR...goddamn it!" Gnashing his teeth, León slammed his fist against the side of the building -- a building that he had passed twice already, the brunette man getting turned around in the narrow twisting streets. "I swear I'm going to kill him..." he growled under his breath, as the rain poured down the back of his neck, his already heavy robes even more so from the downpour.

"Dandelion...” A male voice crackled in León's ear. "Dandelion, do you hear me?"

"Abel?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no." The voice replied.

"Professor..." León immediately recognized the cultured tone of his AX teammate.

"One and the same." William Walter Wordsworth chuckled.

León moved under a nearby awning. "What's the special occasion?"

"I've been trying to reach Father Abel, but I haven't been able to get through." the other man replied.

"Probably this damn weather," the brunette said. "If I get any more water-logged I'm going to turn into a damn frog."

"Which is, of course, scientifically impossible."

León groaned. Somebody save me, please... "Professor..." he said, hoping to steer the man back on to whatever track had spurred the communication.

"Hmm? Oh yes, Father Abel...I've finished my investigation on the items that you sent."

"And?"

"Well the camera contained some rather...disturbing images." Wordsworth replied.

"Disturbing how?" León asked, though he already had a pretty good idea just what the camera had recorded.

"Methuselah," the other responded. "Killing, quite viciously, a number of Terrans before turning on themselves." The Professor's voice fell in tone. "It was really quite disturbing."

"What about the other?" León asked. "That circuit thing?"

"A very curious piece of technology." Wordsworth said. "It was very similar to some of the circuit boards that were part of the Silent Noise system."

Crap...

"Where did you say that you found it again?" The Professor asked.

"Inside a piece of what used to be statue...look Professor, are you sure?"

"Quite sure." the other man replied. "I made a personal study of the device myself. León, have you and Abel discovered another Silent Noise device?"

"I don't know," León answered with a slight shake of his wet head.

Wordsworth fell silent on the other end.

"Professor?"

"I'm here, just thinking over something."

León rolled his dark eyes. "Well hurry it up, I don't have all night."

"Patience, my son...

The brunette growled. Those who knew León knew that he had very little patience.

After what seemed like an eternity, Wordsworth's voice crackled in the broad-shouldered man's ear again, "León."

"Still here," the brown-eyed man replied.

The Professor's tone was all professional as he spoke. "I definitely think we're dealing with something based on the principals of the Silent Noise system. But instead of causing buildings to collapse, I think it's being used to incite the Methuselah virus and drive them into blood frenzy. The recording...the device that you found...it's the only logical conclusion I can come up with."

"Jesus Christ..." León breathed out the words, unaware that he had even spoken.

"Yes...trouble with a capital 'T'."

"Abel was following a couple of characters," the brunette said. "The last message I got from him was that they were headed into a place right at the edge of the Methuselah part of the city."

"It's imperative that we stop that machine." Wordsworth said.

"Understood." León nodded. "I'm on it."

"Good luck."

"Thanks." The broad-shouldered man here a slight click as Wordsworth severed the connection.

Just fucking wonderful...that's all we need...

"Abel..." León tried hailing his partner, only to be met by silence on the pale-haired man's end. "Abel...”

He tried several more times to reach Abel, but to no avail. Grumbling under his breath, León stepped back out into the rain. He took a few moments to take stock of his location before he headed up the street at a jog.