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Finally, they all managed to fall asleep that night. Early the next morning, a knock was heard on the door.

"W-Who's there?" Jill asked, startled from her sleep. Her hand went straight for her gun.

"It’s us, Sister Agatha and Sister Julie. We've come with breakfast for you."

Jill sighed. "Oh, I'll be there in a second," she said, kicking her blankets away. She opened the heavy door and let the two nuns inside. One had a pitcher of milk and some glasses while the other had a large tray full of bacon, eggs, and toast.

"Mmmm, something smells really good," Lilith said, sitting up.

"Oh! Breakfast! How very kind of you!" Abel said, also waking up.

Everyone gathered around the table and filled their plates with food.

"Man, it feels like I haven't eaten in days!" Lilith shouted.

"More like you haven't eaten since last night. You can be such a pig sometimes," Vincent remarked.

"Hey!"

"Alright you two, that's enough. It’s too early in the morning for you two to be fighting," Esther interrupted sternly.

"Sorry," they both apologized.

"Your Majesty, we have a message from Mr. Walsh," Sister Julia said, "He says that there have been no signs of the Rosenkreuz Orden, so it should be safe to return to the palace tomorrow."

"Ah, thank you Sister Julia," Esther said.

"Aw, we have to stay another day in this creepy place?" Lilith whined.

"Yes, but it’s better than having our lives in danger, isn't it?" Abel said.

"Yeah," Lilith grumbled.

"Do you need anything else, Your Majesty?" Sister Agatha asked.

"No, you two may take your leave. Thank you very much for breakfast."

"You’re welcome, Your Majesty," both Sisters said in unison.

After everyone was finished eating, they all went their separate ways. Esther began playing Solitaire with a deck of cards she had brought. Abel was reading a book. So was Lilith, but she quickly grew bored with it. Vincent and Jillian, however, were just staring off into space. They both looked slightly anxious to do something, but they remained glued to where they sat.

“Oh, jeez, just looking at those two makes me angry. You can tell how much they want to talk to each other. Here they are, in the same room, and they wont talk to each other because one is too shy and the other is too stubborn! Sheesh!” Lilith thought. Then a mischievous smile formed on her lips. “Looks like this situation calls for a little meddling…”

Lilith walked to the other side of the room where Vincent was. It looked like he didn't even notice her.

“Man, he's really out of it,” she thought, “Normally, he'd be able to tell if I was coming from the next room!” She began to wave her hand in front of his face. "Hey! Earth to Vincent! Man, what is with you?"

"Huh? Oh, it’s just you. What do you want twerp?" Vincent asked, broken out of his reverie.

Lilith sighed. "Jeez, can't you just finally give in?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about finally giving in and talking to a certain nun who just happens to be in the same room."

Vincent groaned. "Good Lord, will you quit harping on that?"

"I'll stop when you finally man up and talk to her!"

"Are you saying that I'm too scared to talk to her?" Vincent asked as his face began to turn red.

"Scared and stubborn." Lilith said, smiling.

"I am not!"

"Then prove it, lover boy."

"Fine!" he said, storming off.

“Ha! That was way too easy!” Lilith thought.

"Umm...Sister Jillian?"

"Yes, Vincent?" Jill said, looking up at him.

"I was, um, wondering if...you wanted to talk?" Vincent said while his face began to blush a little.

"Of course. But only on one condition..."

"What is it?"

"That you start calling me Jill again," Jill said softly, a small smile forming on her face.

"I really don't think that would be very proper, Sister," Vincent said sternly.

"Please Vincent. Please call me Jill again, like you did in the old days..."

Vincent paused and then sighed. He never could say no to her.

"Fine. So, how have things been with the church...Jill," he said, smiling a little.

Lilith watched and giggled as they made awkward conversation. However, as with most things, she quickly grew bored of watching the shy couple.

“Hmmm...what else is there to do around here…?" She asked rhetorically.

--

Helena sat in front of a large computer monitor, tapping the keyboard quickly. Her face was illuminated eerily by the dim light of the computer screen. In her lap was a doll that looked like herself.

"Well, have you finished programming the system yet?" Isaak asked, appearing beside her.

"I should be done in a few minutes. It’s actually quite sad, I had hoped it would have been more of a challenge to get this old thing up and running again," Helena sighed, "Although I must admit, your plan B is quite brilliant!"

"Ah yes, the Crimson Angel system. Developed by the Methuselah during Armageddon as a last resort against the Terran. Truly a thing of beauty," Isaak mused.

The Crimson Angel was made near the end of Armageddon. Its purpose was to destroy Earth by setting off strategically placed bombs deep underground. It was developed so that if the Methuselah lost the war, then they could take all of humanity with them. However, it was dismantled before they could ever go through with the plan. So it laid dormant until the Orden discovered it. One was located under the city of Londinium, in the old slums.

"My goodness, who knew ending all life on Earth could be so simple!" Helena laughed.

"Indeed. Now, if you will please excuse me, I have an important matter to take care of..."

"Are you going to find the children? Oh! I wish I could go with you!"

"Nein, I think it would be best if you stayed here. After all, you're the only person who can wake up Sleeping Beauty. And once you're finished with that, you need to start locating the others."

"Awww!" Helena whined as Isaak once again drifted back into the darkness.

--

Despite the slowness of the day, night finally came. Everyone was getting ready for bed.

"I am so ready to get back home tomorrow!" Lilith said, fluffing her pillow."Indeed, I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. I don't think I've ever slept on a couch this uncomfortable!" Jill complained, rubbing her neck.

"Goodnight!" Lilith shouted to everyone.

"Goodnight," they all replied.

Within a few minutes, everyone was dreaming peacefully. However, Lilith once again found herself staring into the darkness, unable to sleep.

"Grr, I'd be able to sleep if that annoying rumbling would stop!" Lilith loudly whispered to herself. The entire day Lilith had been hearing strange rumbling noises. She asked everyone else if they could hear them, but they all said that she was hearing things.

“It must be because everyone else had something to do, but I was bored and had nothing to do. I probably think I hear something because I haven’t had anything else to focus on the entire day. Yeah, that must be it,” she thought, “But do imaginary sounds get louder over time?”

Vincent shifted in the bed and sat up. "Hey, Lilith."

"Huh? What Vincent?" Lilith asked, also sitting up.

"I think I'm starting to hear your imaginary noise."

The room began to shake slightly. A small lamp that had been sitting on the end table next to the bed fell off it and shattered.

"What on earth? An earthquake?!" Esther asked, waking up after hearing the lamp break.

"No," Abel said, listening to the rumbling, "This is something else." Then he gasped and his eyes went wide. "Everyone! We need to get out of here, quickly!"

It was too late though. A giant wormlike creature burst through the stone floor.

Lilith coughed. She couldn't see anything. Normally, she could see very well in the dark, but there was too much dust in the air.

"Guten aben, Father Nightroad. No, I suppose they call you Lord Abel now, don't they? It’s so good to see you again."

"Who is he Father?" Vincent asked Abel.

"Isaak Fernand von Kampfer...a member of the Rosenkreuz Orden. But I heard he died during the attack on Albion 25 years ago!"

"Is that what they told you…?" Isaak mused, "Please, don't think I would be so pathetic as to have died in a simple accident. It was a proxy on that ship, nothing more. Although I must say it was a rather expensive piece of Lost Technology, I should ask the Vatican to pay for it."

"What are you doing here, Kampfer?" Abel growled as he stepped in front of his wife and children. He didn't want to have to activate his nanomachines, but if Isaak proved too difficult, he would have to.

"Now, how many times must I tell you to be less formal, Abel? Please, call me Isaak. Or if you prefer, you can always call me Wizard. Now, I will give you two options. One; you hand the children over to me, or two; you come with me and merge with Mein Herr. Make your decision quickly, my lord."

“Damn him, looks like I have no choice,” Abel thought. "Nanomachine Crusnik 02, power output 40 percent, acti-"

But before Abel could finish, Isaak held up his hand. "Tsk, not so fast Lord Abel. I think you may want to rethink that." Isaak bent down and picked up the limp form in front of him. It was Jill.

"Jill!" Lilith shouted.

"Ah, Miss Lilith. It would seem that Helena was correct, you are quite the beautiful fraulein. You know, I heard the most interesting thing about you from your uncle. It would seem that you have a most unique, how should I put this, condition..." Isaak drew a small knife from one of his coat pockets.

"No...he wouldn't!" Lilith gasped. "Stop! Don't kill her!"

"Kill her? Oh, you needn't worry about that yet. I have a much more interesting plan for her," he said, inching the knife closer to her neck. Then he made a long cut along the young sister's throat. Not deep enough to kill, but enough to make it bleed slightly.

That was all it took though.

Lilith saw the blood and turned deathly pale. She began to shake and break out in a cold sweat. She dropped to her knees.

"Lilith!" Esther shouted. “Oh no, it’s happening again!”

"No, not a monster...not a monster..." Lilith began to mumble. Then she stopped shaking and passed out on the floor.

"So it is true, how very intriguing. A hemophobic Crusnik. Doesn't it just scream irony?"

"b*****d!" Vincent yelled. His eyes, which were once ice blue, turned a deep, glowing red. His lips began to grow dark, almost black, and sharp fangs poked out of his mouth.

"I see that the other rumors about you two are true as well. You posses the ability to transform into the true form of a Crusnik. This will please Mein Herr very much."

"I'm gonna rip you apart!" Vincent shouted. He lunged at Isaak, but he quickly sidestepped out of the way.

"Here, take her back if you want her so much," Isaak said coolly. He threw Jill's still limp body over to Vincent. "Still, I don't think I'd want to be her when she wakes up..." He said, smiling.

Vincent gasped slightly. “Damn, he's right! If she wakes up and sees me…”

Jill stirred in Vincent's arms. She looked like she was regaining consciousness.

“No! She can't see me like this! She'd be terrified!” he thought, trying to calm down his nanomachines.

Then the room once again began to shake. Even Wizard looked a little surprised by it.

“Damn, I must have dug around the slums too much; the room is collapsing!” Isaak thought.

The floor gave out beneath them. Everyone tumbled into the tunnels below.

--

"Ow, my head hurts..." Lilith moaned, sitting up from the floor, "Mom! My head hurts! Do we have any aspirin?" Lilith looked around the room. She was the only one there.

--

"Ouch...what happened? Why does my neck hurt so much?" Jill asked, finally waking up. Jill felt her neck and discovered that it had been bandaged. She looked and saw Vincent lying on the ground with Esther and Abel next to him.

Esther looked over at Jill. "Sister Jill, you're finally up? How are you feeling?" she asked, concern written all over her face.

"I'm okay, but how is Vincent? He looks..." Jill didn't want to say it.

"His head slammed against a rock when we fell, but he should be fine. There's no need to worry," Abel said. He sighed and gave a troubled glance. "If there's anyone who we should be worried about, it’s Lilith."

Jill gasped. "Why!? Is she hurt too!?"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean!? How could you not know?"

"It’s hard to know how someone is doing if they aren't in the room with you."

Jill looked puzzled for a minute. Then she looked around the room and realized what he meant.

Lilith was gone.

--

Isaak sighed. The worm creature had been crushed and killed by a falling rock.

"Oh well, looks like I'll have to use something else to find them," Isaak muttered. He snapped his fingers and two clear, gelatinous creatures with tentacles appeared before him.

"Go find Lilith and Vincent Nightroad. Do not kill them. However, should anyone else interfere...feel free to feed."

The creatures made a sickening noise akin to a pleased growl and darted off into the tunnels.