Trinity Bloods (FanFic)

22† Collecting Dust

Abel stood with Esther, the only two who haven't left the room as everyone made it their mission to begin cleaning up the rooms from the bodies and blood.

"Father? Is there something that is bothering you?"

He said nothing, but instead, pulled out his tracker. After a few touches and an adjustment to his glasses, Abel looked up to where they came from, "We need to go back to those old tunnels. There's something we must find. What were in those books?"

"You mean the bookshelf?" Esther stood almost afraid at the body language coming from Abel. She stood worried. Something didn't sit well in her gut.

The two headed down the halls following Abel's tracker. He thought how the room he had mapped out was delicately kept a secret, all the rooms around it held no doors or hidden passages unless you thoroughly looked at every point of the walls and floor. Abel stared at his device and shook his head. "This room was still intact after the burning of the Vatican like it was protected. They built around it hoping to forget it. I don't understand why though."

"Don't understand what?" An all too familiar female giggle came from around the corner. Out stepped a long black stockinged leg followed by a tight fitting white nun's habit. The rather busty woman stepped into full view, her arms crossed, but one hand twirling her black locks between fingers. She looked up to Abel and smiled greatly.

"S-sister Noélle! W-what are you doing?" Abel laughed loudly and scratched his head. "Oh, we haven't seen you in a while! How have you been?"

"Don't change the subject. What are you two sneaking around for? Lost your secret stash of candy?" She giggled once more, her lips curling slightly as she made her way over to Abel. Noélle clung to Father Abel's arm and leaned into him, "We just arrived back from the cities. What happened here that we were all called back immediately?"

Sister Esther looked up to Sister Noélle with sad but scared eyes, "We, uhm, it was an-"

"Esther, don't fret. We will figure out everything soon." His tone once again shifted from very playful and light to showcasing his darker but more confident side. Abel looked over his shoulder and down the hall, "We were attacked."

"I heard. I hope His Holiness and Cardinal Jacob are alright. They said their meeting would be world changing on a lot of the news. Plus, their churches have suffered all those attacks lately. Most of the Fathers and Sisters ended up dead. I heard that the same vampire has made it around the area haunting their followers for the last few years. Any news on it at all?" Noélle shifted herself on Abel's arm as his body stiffened, "Abel, you're scaring me. Is His Holiness alright? Tell me!"

Abel hushed his friend with his palm in the air, "Yes, he is quite alright. Shaken up a bit, but indeed alright. Cardinal Jacob and his men on the other hand... And quite a bit of our men..."

"Abel! What in Heaven's name happened?" She took a step back, careful with keeping her own emotions balanced in the area.

"How about we chat somewhere more private?" Abel slinked his arm away from Noélle and started to push on parts of the wall. He found a small notch under a painting and gave a small tug. With his finger pressing onto the notch, he pulled the painting from the wall but actually opening the wall up. "Here should be fine. On the other side from where we were last time but closer to the room I do believe. Not as much walking to the bookcase."

Esther stared wide eyed but started to peer in. "Abel! How did you?" He gave a coy smile then crawled through. He held out his hand to Sister Noélle and Sister Esther. Once in, the girls explored the small kitchen area. "Father! This is an old Nun's section of the Vatican built inside. Why would this be hidden? The history and knowledge of the nuns that worked hand in hand with the Pope's of the past."

"And for so long? Yuck." Noélle regrettably touched a shelf with layers of dust that stained her white glove. She groaned at the place and kept walking through, "That's why this place is so hidden..."

Abel looked over to Noélle as he closed the painting door, "What is it?" He found a small oil lamp and made sure to light it. "This place is definitely old."

"And, this place is actually a nursery." Noélle walked up to some small cribs and picked up a doll that was simply ready to fall apart at any moment. "Children of the nuns working in the Vatican..." She turned to look at Abel with sad eyes. "This place is meant to be and stay hidden. I can understand why, but it is horrible to think of all the children who were born in this place and grew up training as orphaned Nuns. How sad... To know your own mother, but to be treated as if you had no parents."

Sister Esther began walking around after lighting a small candle lantern for herself. She made her way towards the section she thought she remembered, "Another door. Like the other one. It says Filii Damnatio."

"Children of Damnation. How horrible. All the children were considered Damned from birth with their mothers unfaithful to the church. No wonder it was so hidden." Abel translated, his mind filled with the most unimaginable that they went through to keep this place a secret.

"Looks like they only taught them Latin to begin with. That's crazy to think." Esther sorted some papers and books extremely carefully. Some pages were crumbling every second she touched them. "There's books for everything. They must've had a school program for the kids, too." She crouched as she continued to read a few certain book labels, "I found a census log. Oh, logs. There's so many."

Abel made his way to Esther with Noélle close behind, "That's what I want to look at first. Think there's any way to remove them and we can try reading them?"

"There are a few I don't think we can, but some that should be fine. However, I do believe that they are all only in Latin," She looked back over to Abel.

"That should be quite alright. It's good that I know how to read and speak it." Abel pulled out some books to read the writing on the front. He clutched one book tightly to his chest and continued looking around. "This is the one I think..."

Esther kept a close eye on Abel as she noticed Noélle made her way in the nursery room as if she was reliving memories. "Sister?"

Noélle looked up to the worried Esther then smiled a bit. "I can feel the emotion in the room... So much love but so much pain at the same time. My heart goes out to any of these children. How horrible life must've been. Always shunned for the other Nuns knew the children were of faulty Faith. Damned to live in hell in this life and after. Even repenting as a nun, they had nothing to regain a path to Heaven. They only had themselves to trust. To still devote yourself to the faith would be incredible to do."

Abel made his way to a room with bunk bed cots and shook his head in sadness. He continued to another shelf of books. His eyes wandered realizing they were all children's books. "I forgot... Maybe. Just maybe." Abel made his way back to the larger bookshelf and started sorting out some words. Pulling out a few more, he turned to the women, "I got what I came here for. We can leave now."

Quickly Noélle made her way to the exit, "Finally! I don't think I can handle this dust anymore!"

Esther guided herself with the light and stopped to stare at the room one last time before putting out her candle and leaving it on the desk. "I don't feel right abandoning this room." She set it next to Abel's extinguished lamp and turned to the light from the hall, illuminating the room.

Abel once again held out his hand to Sister Noélle then Sister Esther, but in his other hand, were the books tucked away under his coat. He was careful to keep them from the light and to make sure they were safe. This kind of history could and would change the world. Some information would be power that some are not capable of handling.