Episode 2--"Witch Hunt"

Open on Abel Nightroad and Tres Iqus examining a floor strewn with bodies. Fifteen corpses, says Tres, all vampires. Brain stem, cervical vertebrae, heart; all these vampires' vital spots were precisely destroyed. --Does that mean they killed each other?-- Insufficient data to answer, says the cyborg, scanning with his electronic eye, and adds that--by the footprints--he estimates eight escaped. Sister Kate on his communicator confirms it and tells them to proceed, as the Fleurs du Mal has multiple hideouts. They follow the trail into a wine cellar; as they walk through it a small girl suddenly darts out of hiding. Tres instantly fires. Abel rushes forward, catches her up, and calls Tres to cease. He assures her that if she was kidnapped by the vampires, she's safe now. The tiny girl reaches out, touches Abel between the eyes, and something strange happens: his pupils contract, he gasps, has an instant's flashback of a blonde man speaking, and collapses, dropping the girl. She bolts; Tres fires; she turns to face the red laser dot focused exactly on her forehead. -- What did you do to Father Nightroad? I demand an answer: what are you? She tries the same trick on the Gunslinger, who just looks at her and repeats his question. She's astonished.

Abel's eyes open: he's gazing out the portal of a ship orbiting the earth. A voice tells him he's late--it's the same blonde man (rather resembling Abel) that he saw in his flashback. He smiles and tells Abel it's all right to be happy, he's already taken care of the minus element: he holds up what we can just see is a red-haired woman's severed head. Abel gasps and awakens with a terrible scream; he sits up panting for breath.

He's lying on the pew of a church, watched over by another Vatican priest. The pipe-smoking Father [he's William Walter Wordsworth, code name Professor] explains that the girl's power is to make people revisit their dreams. Her name is Elise Wasmeyer--a witch, sought after by the Inquisition. Her power is called Touch Telepathy, and she's a product of genetic engineering, which was much practiced before the Armageddon. (Abel knows this.) By just touching someone she can control the mind and even compel one to kill. Two years ago it was her parents; she was sent to an orphanage, which was a bad mistake: "people around her couldn't stop killing each other." Abel asks if it was she who caused the members of Fleurs du Mal to kill each other. Perhaps; Father William has orders from the Duchess of Milan [Lady Caterina Sforza, as you'll recall] to investigate thoroughly before the girl is turned over to the Inquisition.

Elise is indignant at her captivity; she's been badgering her impassive guard, Tres, with questions ("Why didn't you fall over?"), and greets William and Abel at the door with a glass of water thrown in their faces. While William leaves to meet the messenger from Saint Raquel Church, where Elise is to be held (she chases him out with a barrage of teacups, hissing like a furious cat), Abel talks to her alone. He notes the gold cat pin she's wearing and asks if she likes cats; she had a lot of them, she says sadly, when her parents were alive. You sounded like one just now, he adds, imitating her hiss. She'd be a dirty stray if she were a cat, she says bitterly. She hates people; everyone who finds out about her treats her as a monster and tries to catch and kill her, even her parents. Even the vampires who kidnapped her called her a monster. Everyone is her enemy, she says, the world is full of enemies. Abel says she mustn't make an enemy of the whole world on her own, and promises that he at least is on her side. But his charming smile doesn't ease her mind. You should leave me alone, she says, huddled; I should never have been born. Even if I live, my life has no value. Abel assures her that no one's life is worthless. --Why do you care about me? Because you’re really similar, he says. --To whom? Abel only smiles…

(--Tres, on guard outside the door, hasn't missed any of this.)

(William checks his watch: the messenger from Saint Raquel's Church is apparently late. Frown…)

(Tres' communicator: "Iron Maiden to Gunslinger. I will pass on an order from Caterina-sama…")

Elise steps out of the room and walks straight into Tres, saying she's going to the bathroom. I said I'd walk you there, Abel remonstrates. "You'd follow me there? Pervert!" ("Hentai!") she snaps, and makes her escape while he's recoiling. Abel admits to Tres that he hasn't gotten any information out of Elise yet. The cyborg follows her. Sure enough, she's running down the aisle of the church toward the door, and halts when a bullet clips the pew by her ear. Abel again intervenes and Tres discloses the order he got from Lady Caterina: If Elise tries to escape, kill her without waiting for the Inquisition; she is a living weapon and a threat to the human race. If Fleurs du Mal has made one attempt to capture a Touch Telepath, they'll try again and again in future. --Better to kill her than lose her to the enemy? Abel says he can't allow that and actually draws his gun on Tres; Elise begs him to stop, crying that more people will die because of her, even though she hasn't touched anyone… --Are you going to fight me, Krusnik? asks the cyborg, ice cold, and though Abel tries to disengage, Tres says he's rewritten his "friend or foe" discimination signal for Abel, whom he must now eliminate. Abel grabs up Elise and runs for it; they duck down an alley, bullets drilling the stonework in their wake as Tres comes on. One shot cuts an electrical cable; Abel grabs it, runs straight at Tres dodging his fire, apologizes ("Sumimasen, Tres-kun--"), and jams the cable into his chest. The Gunslinger goes wide-eyed and folds over, smoke rising from his joints. --He's not human, Abel explains to amazed Elise; he's a machine (he actually uses the English word), a special agent. Your powers can't work on him.

A tall brunette nun asks what's going on; Abel stammers that he's just demonstrating the cyborg's self-repair system. =) She says she's Sister Louise from the Saint Raquel Church, come to pick up Elise. Sad farewell time…

William enters the church; he's brought Sister Louise with him, and she's not the one Elise went with. UH-oh… The Professor calmly takes out a tracking device; he'd planted a bug on Elise. Abel grabs it and takes off. Tres, stretched out on a pew, abruptly sits up, saying system recovery is at 60% and he'll continue pursuit…

In a dark hideout, the false Sister Louise pulls off her nun's habit and grins, showing her fangs. --Monster girl, we meet again, she says. (Others sit slumped on the floor; presumably the eight who escaped the earlier bloodbath.) They've tied Elise's hands so she can't use her powers. The vampiress taunts her, calling her a monster and a murderer, and says she's to be a gift for the Rosen Kreuz. Long steely nails extend from her fingers as she menaces the girl. --You're not human, you’re not one of us, she says; you don't have anyone on your side. But Elise remembers who is. --Father, she cries out, help me! We see a Vatican ship swoop low over the city, and thru the ceiling crashes Father Tres. His electronic eye glows red and the room blazes with gunfire, chopping the vampires to bloody bits--everyone but Elise and her captor. --Clear, says the cyborg; then Abel rushes in and the brunette vampiress charges him, plunging her claws into his shoulder. Everyone freezes. --Nightroad?--startles Tres. Abel's face goes cold, staring at his stunned assailant. --Tres-kun, please secure Elise-san, he says, in that "about to get serious" tone; please take care of things after I lose control.
--Tres gets it. Positive, he says.

The brunette can't free her talon-arm from Abel's shoulder, yanks hard, appalled: what the hell are you? --A human--just like you and Elise-san, he tells her, and then: "Nanomachine, Krusnik 02: release of restrictions to 40% authorized." All the spilled blood on the floor crawls toward him as if magnetized; the vampiress stares in horror as he takes his gorgeous and terrible true form, and drains out her life.

Elise is waiting with Tres when Abel returns, back in human form, though splattered with blood. She runs to him and cuddles him anyway; they're way cute, but Tres draws his guns. --It's an order; I must eliminate all threats. They flinch, braced for the shot; but none comes. --But this time, he adds emotionlessly, I happen to be out of bullets. He turns away. Abel thanks him. --Negative, says the Gunslinger gruffly, this won't happen again.

Suddenly from nowhere swoops the dark-haired vampiress, a gaunt, shrieking shell of her former self. Tres instantly spins and guns her down. --Mission complete, he says; I will withdraw.

--But--Tres-kun--you were out of bullets--?

Elise laughs and runs after Tres as Abel shakes his head.

...go on to Episode Three.

...return to Trinity Blood Episode Guide.