Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own any of the Final Fantasy characters used in this story, they are all part of Square Enix and I thanks the heavens everyday for having SE create them.

Note: a short note about the lay-out

"regular speech"

- mental speech -

- genes speaking -

thoughts

I think that about covers it, should anything be unclear, feel free to let me know :)

Also, Vincent Valentine won't be in the first 2 parts, but it's essential that you read the whole story if you really want to understand the main charachter.

The Howling Vampire

Part 1: Every story has its beginning.

"Fire the gun, damn it!"

A harsh voice, thundering through the cold dungeons, reached her sensitive little ears as she was standing there, merely 10 years old, but already holding a gun in her hand.

"I don't want to!" she screamed in a shaky voice.

"Damn it! The boss will know how to deal with you!"

He roughly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to another room upstairs, the little girl's face soaked in tears of despair.

A door opened and she was roughly thrown inside. A tall, blond man looked up from the screen of his laptop, momentarily interrupting his search for 'entertainment', as the girl was thrown in front of his desk.

"Well, well. Our little Shadow still not cooperating?" the blond man asked.

"No boss, she won't even respond to the name, let alone fire a gun," the bulky man who dragged the little girl in replied.

A sadistic smirk appeared on the boss' lips as he told the bulky man to leave the girl with him, sending him out in the progress. As soon as the door is closed again, he got up from behind his desk to kneel next to the little girl.

"Let's see, what can we do to get those killer instincts out?" he asked as he lifted her chin, making sure she saw the smirk on his face.

She could only whimper as he pulled her up by her arm and pushed her over to the bed in the next room. He threw her down on his bed and all she could do was cry and scream as he caused her to feel pain in every possible way, on every possible place, and eventually welcome the darkness that suddenly surrounded her.

When she woke up, she was back in the dungeon where she had always been. She'd been here for about 3 years now, after the death of her parents she was taken away from their corpses and locked here.

Her parents had named her Serenity because she was very peaceful at birth and as a child. She hardly ever cried and almost never caused any havoc. The first day she'd came to this cold and dark place, they'd told her that from that moment on, her name would be Shadow. She always refused to answer to her new name, which resulted in a lot of beatings and rapes... She could only cry. She knew very well why they took her, but she also knew that if she ever gave them what they wanted, she'd just become an experiment. You see, this girl's last name was Bloodmoon. In her family, there were actual authentic supernatural genes of both the Werewolf and the Vampire, 2 of the most powerful beings of the night, running through the blood of its members. Scientists had been trying for years to get their hands on the genes, but they never succeeded. Serenity's father was a victim of these scientists but he got murdered because the genes ran in her mother's side of the family.

The sound of metal scraping against metal woke her up from her thoughts and she was once again roughly pulled out of her cell, a gun paced in her hands as they once again tried to make the killer instinct of the genes come out. If only they knew... If only they knew of the control she had over those genes...

- 3 Years Later –

By now, Serenity, or Shadow if you will, had become a lot stronger. About 2 and a half years ago, they'd turned their methods around. Now they believed that if they could make her stronger, make her believe that she could have limitless power, she would unleash the demonic genes within her and lose control over them. Oh boy, were they wrong. During these 2 and a half years, she'd been getting good food and a hard but excellent training, this good condition of her body only made it easier for her to work with the 2 opposing genes in her blood.

During her training, she'd found out that she was the only girl and she'd become friends with 2 boys that also had supernatural genes in them. One of them was Skylar, he was 16, tall and had yellowish blond hair with red streaks and a set of warm brown eyes to top it off. He was the owner of the Phoenix genes, a creature of fire. A second boy she'd come to befriend was Nathaniel, he was 17, about an inch taller than Skylar, had black hair with a green shine and electric green eyes. He was the owner of Thor genes, the god of thunder and electricity. The 3 of them had somehow sensed each other's genes and become friends, with the boys deciding to call her Midnight because of the way her hair looked: blue like the midnight sky with silver streaks in it that shone like stars. They even established a mental communication line.

- So, Midnight, when are you planning on ditching this place? - Skylar mentally asked her.

- I'm planning on tomorrow. - she replied.

The three of them were standing next to each other, working on their target practice.

- Why not tonight?- Nathaniel asked.

- I don't know...-

- Midnight, you should stop putting this off. - Skylar said, a light hint of annoyance in his voice.

Midnight let out a deep sigh.

Yes, I have been putting this off for quite a while now... Ah screw this! We're getting out of this shithole tonight!

- Fine, we're letting hell loose on this place tonight! - was her mental conclusion, the three of them smirked and continue their practice.

A few hours later, everyone was gathered in the large dining, hall, waiting for dinner to start. Midnight, Skylar and Nathaniel shot each other looks as they all knew that this was where their plan was to be set into action. About halfway through dinner, it started.

"Food fight!" Midnight screamed, indicating her 2 companions the start of the action.

In a matter of moments, the whole hall had turned into complete chaos and Skylar, Nathaniel and Midnight were running through the hallways. Just a few more corners, and they'd be out! When Midnight was younger, she'd somehow managed to steal plans from the boss' office, enabling them to take the shortest route out on their escape.

Meanwhile, in the dining hall, the boss was furious.

"Want me to go after them, boss?" one of his henchmen asked.

"And do what? You idiot! They have control over their genes, otherwise they'd never try to escape!" the boss yelled his reply just before getting up and firing a gun at the lamp in the middle of the room, causing it to break and glass to chatter down on the people in the hall.

"Silence! I want all of you worthless pieces of crap to clean this mess up! And then you'll be training without food for a week!" his voice boomed through the hall.

Everyone there hurriedly started cleaning up, afraid for their lives...

Midnight, Skylar and Nathaniel had been running at full speed for hours and were now miles away from the dungeons they were previously kept in. The three of them had found a small abandoned cottage and had decided to rest and discuss their further plans.

"I think it might be best to split up for a while," Midnight spoke.

The other 2 nodded in agreement.

"But how will we ever get in touch again? I mean, it's not like we have phones..." Skylar stated.

"No, but we have our minds don't we? I'm sure that we can find each other again one way or another, this connection we have can't just be broken from one moment to another," Midnight answered.

"She's right you know. We've even been able to walk into each other's dreams, even when one of us was sleeping yards away, and that takes a pretty strong connection," Nathaniel backed her up.

Skylar nodded.

"I suggest we stay here for the night and that we split up in the morning," Midnight said.

The others nodded in agreement as the three of them laid down for their last night of combined sleep, getting ready for their life of refuge.

Midnight was the first to wake up. It hurt her to leave her best friends behind so she decided to get up as quietly as she could and just walk out, leaving only a note saying "I love you guys, but I just can't stand goodbyes. Besides, we'll see each other later so what's the point really. See ya! Yours truly"

They'd probably be a bit angry with her later but that was the least of her concerns for now.

She started walking in a random direction until she reached a road, she decided to follow it and soon a truck came by, asking her if she wanted a ride. She politely declined and continued on her journey until she came to a small town. It was an extremely traditional town, but she liked it nonetheless. She leisurely strolled around the streets until she came to a weapon shop, a beautiful collecting of traditional Asian weapons in its display. She suddenly looked up as there was an older man standing on the other side of the glass, beckoning her in. she reluctantly entered and was greeted with a serene smile.

"So, you like traditional weapons?" he asked her with a smile.

"I love them, they're all so elegant," she replied, looking around the interior of the shop, there were more traditional swords and throwing knives but also old fashioned looking guns.

"Do you know how to use them?"

"I was only trained to use a gun," she replied, shifting her gaze to the man in front of her.

He seemed to be in his mid 40s, his hair slightly becoming gray, dressed in a traditional gi and hakama.

"I've seen you before, you've been in town for a few days now haven't you?"

"Yes, I have."

Midnight was starting to get a bit weary of this guy and her body started to tense, ready for any possible attack that might come.

"You've been sleeping on the streets have you not?"

She just nodded, narrowing her eyes slightly at his curiosity.

"How about I give you a place to stay and I train you on how to use every weapon I sell," the man said with a smile.

Midnight's eyes took the size of saucers.

"Okay, what's the catch?" she said.

"Nothing, nothing, I swear."

She narrowed her eyes even further and sent him a suspicious glare.

"Well, if you must know... My wife died a year ago and my only son has been called to become SOLDIER. I have no one left to teach the techniques of our family. I've seen you a few times now and you have a pure heart and I know you are strong enough to become a master in our techniques. So, what say you?"

Midnight let out a sigh, contemplating the idea. She'd been hearing rumors for a few days now that a company named Shinra was looking for recruits. For a moment she'd thought about volunteering, but she was afraid she'd end up in a similar situation like the one she just ran from.

"I'd love to be trained by you."

And so it began. Her training, and the old man was right, he really was training her in every weapon he sold.

Feel free to review, I love feedback, it can only help me improve :)