Major A/N!: I totally rewrote/improved this whole story in first person I think it sucks in third person or maybe I just suck at writing in third person, but anyhow its easier for me since I'm so used to writing that way I won't have to keep going back and correcting myself...
after every ..Q.Q.. is a POV change
2. Disasters Waiting to Happen
I stood in the doorway internally thankful that we were saying our goodbyes now. A few more days here and I would have surely gotten myself into trouble. Or too attached... I could leave now and hopefully forget about her. I watched a shocked expression consume Serah's face as Lightning told her we had to leave tonight. She really didn't have to announce it as it was evident something was going on. My partner and I had sported casual clothes earlier today and now we were both dressed head to toe in our full WRO gear, weapons and all.
"You're leaving already?" Serah pouted and accepted the quick hug from her sister. Naturally, when Lightning came back from her day with her sister I gave her the news and she decided we had better head back tonight. Serah looked at me and I could see the question in her eyes
An emergency back at the headquarters.
She kept staring at me and I assumed she wanted more details. I glanced at Lightning and saw she had her back to us, hugging her grandmother.
I can tell you no more, but I will see to it that you see your sister again very soon, Serah.
A slight blush crossed her pale cheeks as she smiled slightly before bowing her head to me. Lightning pulled away from her grandmother and turned to her sister. "Be good. Stay out of trouble and out of people's heads." she ruffled her sister's hair lightly with a smile on her face. Serah smiled again and giggled. Her smile faded and her eyes met mine again, catching me staring at her.
"Take care of my sister, ok?" she said walking closer to me. Once I took in those wide, sad eyes I felt a small layer of ice melt off of my cold heart. I gave her a firm nod and glanced over at my partner who was smiling back at me. She turned back to her sister again.
"I'll be fine, ok. You just worry about keeping the fort down here while I'm gone." She said resting an assuring hand on her little sister's shoulder.
Serah nodded and a tear slid down her cheek. I had to look away. I was ready to just yank Lightning out of the house and get the hell out of this town before these feelings developed and further. My partner didn't seem to be one for tears either she gave her grandmother a look and the older woman instantly took Serah in her arms turning her so that we couldn't see the young girl crying.
"Take care, now, both of you. I love you, Light."
"Love you too, Gram... and you too Serah. Goodbye." With that said we left and hurried towards our limo. The ride home was much rougher as the driver was instructed to drive as fast as the vehicle could withstand.
I remembered those three. They always had their heads together and now I knew why. A note from their leader, Kadaj, stated that he was doing this for our kind. He would rage a war against humans and free all of the vampires from their prison and humans would live under vampire law. The WRO headquarters was ringing with all types of red alert sirens, but I wasn't as worried. The three of them could do nothing in such a small group. They would have to form an army first and being that so many of the mainstreamers were spread out all over the planet, it could take many months to years before they had a big enough army to make any impact. Yes , vampires were a hundred times stronger than humans, but there were a hundred times more humans than vampires. Not to mention, the WRO had a complete warehouse stocked full of weapons specializing in killing vampires.
"Two missing persons cases have already surfaced." Lightening said as she walked into my room. We were partners but because of the sex difference the WRO didn't place us as bunkmates. It was against company policy to fraternize with one another. "Also, this is a list of mainstreamers and their addresses. We are to seek them out and question them." She showed me the piece of paper. I sat down my drink and looked over the list before tossing it aside.
"We need to find the elder vampire." I said taking another sip of my drink. Should Sephiroth get involved, the humans might not have a chance...
"Who's that?"
"He's the oldest vampire in existence. Every vampire has heard legends about him. If I were building an army, he would be my first recruit." I said with no emotion.
"How old is he?"
"Back in the time of the Gods, he was said to be a product of a human man and a demon woman who escaped from the underworld." I stood up and attached my gun to my holster. "At any rate, he is the strongest of my kind. We will travel and question these mainstreamers... but our goal is to find Sephiroth before those three do."
A week passed and our journey finally lead us to a mainstreamer couple in Cosmo Canyon. Tseng and Elena had been mainstreaming for over twenty years and had been residing in that area for the past three years.
I stood in their den with my arms crossed over my chest. Lightning stood close by me and I could sense that she was slightly nervous. It was her first real assignment and being in a room with three vampires must have been more of a rush than she had bargained for. I could tell that the couple were biting back urge to lick their lips at the scent of her blood. For some reason, I never felt that way around Lightning. Perhaps her blood just wasn't appealing to me.
We were dressed in normal clothes to not draw extra attention to the mainstreamer's home. A visit from the WRO would be subject to gossip and speculation.
"I've not heard of these three you speak of." Tseng said shaking his head he looked down at his blond partner.
"Nor I." she said softly.
"Any talk of raging war against humans?" I asked. I normally preferred to fall back and let my partner do all the talking but I could sense she was uncomfortable here with three vampires in her presence.
"We have no interest in that sort of thing." There was a certain conviction in his tone that lead me to believe he was telling the truth. I, myself, as a vampire was not interested in a war even if it did mean no more Quarantine.
"Sephiroth?" I knew that was all I had to say. Both of them tensed up at the sound of the name. As did any vampire when they heard it.
Elena spoke up just as Tseng was opening his mouth as well. "He's supposedly locked in a coffin in a comatose state. He's guarded heavily by humans."
"Where?"
"I don't know." She said honestly.
"We are done here. Thank you for your time." I bowed my head to the couple and turned to leave. They bowed in return. Lightning bowed her head without looking at either of them and followed me out of the house. To make things look even more natural we were loaned an average looking car. Lightning was the driver.
The drive to our next destination was unbearably long. I couldn't help but to let my mind travel back a week ago when I met Serah. There was definitely something different, other than the obvious, about that sixteen year old girl. The way she moved, the sound of her voice... I hated the way love at first sight felt. I was a fool to think that I could run from it and forget her. Depending on how long the partnership between Lightning and I lasted, I'd most likely see her again sooner or later. If she affected me like this at a mere sixteen, I didn't know if I wanted to meet her again when she got older.
I felt my phone vibrating and once again it was Cloud. I braced myself for more bad news as I answered.
"Yes, Cloud..."
..Q.Q..
I stood outside of the double doors to the research laboratory at the WRO. The WRO was in control of the Quarantine, so most of my deliveries were in between the two places. Though I am only the delivery boy, I've witnessed more insane things happening than probably most of the guards. I made friends with Vincent Valentine while he was locked up here. Well... I'd say we were friends anyways I can't speak for him. What I saw today, I just couldn't help but to reach out to him again.
"I just brought in a delivery to the lab... One of the boxes fell off the cart and broken open." I swallowed hard and looked back and forth to make sure no one was watching or listening to me. If you get to knowing to much around here you risk having your memories wiped. "It had vials of vampire blood in it. There were syringes packed too..." Word had been going around that if a human were to be injected with even the slightest amount of vampire blood, one of the many effects was that it would increase one's physical strength immensely. It was ten times more powerful than any steroid...
I heard Vincent sigh. He most likely had the same hunch I did. No doubt the WRO were pumping their elite officers with the blood making them temporarily almost invincible. With vampires escaping, they were going to need this kind of power to stay in control.
"Any clues on where they're getting the blood?" he asked me. I cringed as I thought of the many torturous measures they were probably using to obtain a vampires blood.
"Vincent... things are getting bad here. It's like, just because those three vampires escaped, they are taking it out on everyone them. I think they might be simply pulling random vampires from the Quarantine and draining them..." I was secretly a supporter of vampires. It's unfair that they had to spend their eternal lives in this torture chamber or out "mainstreaming" while being heavily monitored. I didn't blame the three escapees at all...
"Cloud... you must find out who's behind this. It may be another week before we return to the headquarters."
"I'll try..."
..Q.Q..
Another week passed and still no leads on the missing vampires. However there were no crime reports of any kind related to any vampires. The news reports were telling citizens three humans escaped from the prison. They didn't show the three men's pictures but only warned citizens to be cautious when leaving their homes. The WRO cut back on sending members out for investigations as they felt the WRO officer traffic was too high. They didn't want to worry the public anymore than they had to. Lightning was given notice she could resume her two days off since her previous vacation was interrupted. So she and I took an airship back to Kalm. Lightning wanted to warn her grandmother about the missing fugitives personally. I hadn't expected to get a chance to see Serah again so soon. Part of me wanted to believe that maybe it was fate that I'd be forced to endure her presence again...
I walked into the familiar restaurant alone. Lightning went on to her grandmother's house to speak with her grandmother privately so she wouldn't worry Serah. She asked me if I would see her sister home and I hesitantly agreed. The same friendly hostess greeted me at the door and seated me at a booth. Serah looked up from the table she was currently waiting and saw me sitting there alone. She panicked instantly, dropping her task and rushing over to my booth. She dropped down in the seat right across from me, eyes blazing in fear.
"Where's Light?"
I answered without hesitation to relieve her of any further panic. "She went to speak with your grandmother."
She breathed a heavy sigh of relief and held a hand over her chest. "Don't sneak in here all unannounced like that!" she teased, laughing softly as she stood up and pulled out her note pad. The sound of her laughter warmed me to the core. My heart pounded as I felt another layer of ice melt. She was getting to me, and fast. As much as I knew I shouldn't have come here, this feeling felt too good to stay away.
"So what can I getcha?" she smiled down at me with a warm smile. I couldn't stare at her any longer. I brought my eyes down to the menu and skimmed through the beverage section looking for something red. I bought some blood tablets at the vampire convenient store at the WRO headquarters. You simply slip them into any drink besides ones that contain alcohol and it will turn it into a form of synthetic blood. However, it would obviously turn the beverage red.
"Cherry limeade."
"Ok. I'll have it right out for you." She reached out for my menu. Her wrist was turned towards me faintly exposing her blue veins. I imagined the sweet tasting... I cleared my throat slightly, shaking the thoughts away as I handed her the menu. I had forgotten to wear my gloves today and I cringed as my cold fingers brushed her warm ones.
"Gosh, your hands are freezing! Has the temperature dropped that much?" Thankfully, the temperature outside really had dropped much lower tonight than it had been earlier this evening.
"I'm afraid so." I answered.
"Is Light coming by?"
"She did not say."
She asked that I see you home safely tonight.
Serah rolled her eyes at this. "Oh right, because those missing fugitives are totally hanging out in this small boring town. Light worries for me too much." She shook her head as she turned to walk away. I watched her walk away for a few seconds until I felt like I was being watched. I took a deep breath. I could smell another one of my kind right here in the very same restaurant I sat in...
