Lockhart007

Thanks for the reviews guys, keep them coming. Well, here we are - the second chapter. Let's see what mess Tifa gets herself into.

Once again, I don't claim to be able to write good action scenes. And do not own these characters (unfortunately).

Also, thank you to Foxes Flames who helped with spell checking the last chapter.

Chapter Two

You know you're in deep shit when you shoot someone in the face and they don't die . . .

As she entered the deserted room, she had to let her eyes adjust to the darkness that surrounded her. Blindly aiming the gun and slowly turning in a full circle around the corridor, she made her way through all of the down stairs rooms. The living room was empty aside from an overturned, mouldy sofa and a television that was laid on its side with the screen smashed. The windows didn't let much light in as the glass was covered with black dirt and grime.

She carefully backed out and made her way down the corridor and into the kitchen. The walls were pitch black and all of the surfaces and furniture was burnt, obviously a house fire had started in this room once. But no sign of life was here on the ground floor so she carefully trod her way to the bottom of the rickety staircase. She tapped the first step with the front of her foot to make sure that it didn't creak, which it didn't and did the same to the second.

She repeated the action with every step up, whilst still keeping an eye out for movement and straining her ears to detect any sounds. She was on the second floor but could hear noises coming from the third floor straight above. As she listened closer she realised she was hearing voices. Raising her gun to head level, she proceeded up the next set of stairs. Thankfully, these steps were just as silent was the ones before, so she got to the third floor unheard. As she turned, a beam of yellow light shone across the floor. Her gaze followed the beam of light into a room where it was coming from a lonely candle in the far end room, the room the culprits were in. She took a careful step forwards to best hear what they were saying.

"-know the consequences" a deep male voice finished.

"Sir, I. . . I-" another male voice stuttered which was quickly cut over by the other.

"Failed maybe?"

"No I – I didn't sir! I-" interrupted again

"Failed to fulfil your part of the deal" the deep voice said, sounding bored and a little bit irritated "Even after I gave you a whole week extra time out of the goodness of my heart"

Tifa watched, not daring to breathe or move as a silhouette formed from beyond the door, lit up by the small candle. Tifa saw that this man wasn't especially tall, but taller than her, and he also had a fine jawline and spiky hair (unless it was a weird hat of some sort).

"Si- sir?"

The figure shook his head and said lowly "I'd like to say I'm sorry to have to do this Mr. Stenners but . . . quite frankly, I'm not"

And with that said, Tifa watched horrified as the man grabbed the other with lightning like speed and violently grabbed his neck with his mouth. The other man and Tifa screamed in unison, and the floor board shattered under her feet as she took a step backwards. Her whole leg went through the floor and got stuck, and she couldn't get out. The screaming from inside the room stopped and Tifa looked up to see that the attacker was looking straight at her. Her heart and breathing stopped.

"Have the rest" he spoke to somebody else, shoving the man (was he dead?) out of view. All she heard was a deep grunt, probably from this mans' associate and the violators' footsteps, coming towards her. She aimed the gun at his head as soon as he left the room and entered the landing, out of fear for her life and the leg that had the emergency radio strapped to down a hole, she fired.

His head craned backwards, and for a second she through she had blown it straight off his neck. But a moment later, to her horror and disbelieve, his head snapped back up, and in the dim lighting she could see his mouth was curled up in a cruel smirk. She fired again and the next thing she saw was a quick blur and the bullet she had shot was in-between his forefinger and thumb, his eyes surveying the little silver object with amusement.

She struggled to move, but only causing her leg to go further down the hole. She never kept her gaze away from his, their eyes locked in silence. She blinked and when she opened her eyes he was right in front of her, crouched down and his face a few inches away from hers. She screamed and fought to get away from him, to minimise the distance between them, but she only fell further.

She raised the gun again to only have is swiped from her hands and into his. His handsome face didn't show any humour anymore, no fear or anger. It was just neutral – free of any emotion.

"Glock G34 9mm" he muttered under his breath "Not one for guns myself but it's worth being in the knowledge"

"Who are you?" she breathed, her voice just above a quiver now she was unarmed and stuck through the floor.

He stood up and took the bullets out of the gun and put them into his pocket, he then put the gun itself into his belt. He looked down on her and smiled.

"I think the correct question here would be should I let you live?" he stared at her for a moment before laughing a little "I can't believe I'm about to do this" he crouched down, grabbed her arms and pulled her up. As soon as she was set onto her feet she started up a roundhouse kick, but he caught her leg and ripped the radio off. He gripped it tightly enough to make it shatter instantly. Her eyes widened in horror as large chucks of plastic and electronics fell from his hand and onto the dusty floor. She tugged her leg from his grip and before her brain could muster up any thought, he gripped her arms and dragged them to around her back.

"Get the hell off of me" she snarled, trying to donkey kick him in the groin but only hit air. His grasp was insanely strong and her arms hurt from where he had held of her.

He craned his neck over his shoulder and spoke to the person he was with, she couldn't see who, as she was facing the opposite direction.

"You know what to do" the handsome jerk said. She heard a grunted reply and then she was being marched down the stairs and as soon as they reached the bottom floor he whispered into her ear "We can either do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice my dear"

"Fuck off" she growled, trying once again to escape his hold. He sighed and the next thing she knew was her arms quickly being released and his hands turning to her head violently and then darkness as she fell unconscious.

Day One

Her head was spinning, her neck was hurting and all she wanted was to forget about the horrid dream she just had. She tried to turn over in her bed, maybe to hug a soft pillow, but that was when she realised that her dream wasn't a made up picture in her head. It had actually happened.

She snapped her eyes open and winced against the bright light that shone from all sides of the room she was in. After her eyes had adjusted to the intense light, she gazed around her surroundings. She was in a completely bare room, with pure white walls and white carpeting. There was nothing in this room other than a door, a flat white pillow and a thin grey sheet that had been tossed over her body, there wasn't even a window!

Without thinking twice, she flung the sheet aside and jumped to her feet. She was still dressed in the black outfit she had been wearing when she searched the old building and witnessed a murder. And now she was in the murderers – what was this? A room in his house? Random building in the middle of nowhere? She didn't care where she was as long as she got out.

She bolted for the door, ignoring the throbbing pain in her brain and grabbed the silver handle. She tugged, pulled and violently jiggled it up and down, but no matter what she did it was still locked. She took a hair grip from her hair which was in a tight ponytail and tried to picklock the lock. After a minute she heard the clasp ping, sounding that she had been successful and grabbed the handle again. Still locked! It must have been bolted shut from the other side and after knocking it twice with her ear pressed against it, she knew that the door was quite solid, so she wouldn't be able to break it down. Throwing the hair grip aside in anger she kicked the door to no advantage, only gaining a throbbing pain in her foot to add to the pain she still had in her head.

She felt like there was no point to scream for help as she didn't know where the hell she was. She slid down the length of the door and tried to think of an escape plan and tried to figure out what in the world was happening.

Who was the man who had imprisoned her? Whoever he was he was strong, devious and dangerous. She remembered when he had murdered that other man and tried to rack her brains on how he could kill him by using only his mouth. Well, there was a vital jugular vein running through the neck, but why not kill someone with a knife or shooting them?

As if it had read her mind and decided to act, she heard the bolts on the other side of the door bang open and counted that there were two of them, one at the top and one near the middle. She got up and stepped backwards as a key wormed its way into the key hole and didn't move (since she had already opened it). She heard a familiar chuckled as the handle turned and the door opened.

Stood there in all his glory was him, the very man who had locked her in this room. Last time she saw him, she could tell that he was wearing a very expensive suit, but this time he had decided to go formal. Wearing light blue coloured jeans with fashionable tears in them and a white, short sleeved shirt and on his feet he wore blue and white trainers, the whole look suiting him rather well. She was right, it was his hair that was spiky (not a hat) and it was bright blond. The only way she could think of to describe his eyes was hypnotic; they were of a mesmerising bright blue with a little bit of green around the irises.

But she couldn't dwell on how good-looking this bastard was, she needed to think of a way how to outsmart him, (she never believed that thing about blonds being dumb because Cid was one of the smartest men she had met), and this man looked quite intelligent.

"I thought I heard noises from this room" he smiled, closing the door behind him and standing in front of it to ensure she didn't try to escape "So I brought you breakfast"

It was then that she noticed that he had held of a plate with a full English breakfast on it. Her mouth watered upon the sight but she shook her head and looked him straight into those mocking (yet beautiful) eyes.

"Keep it" she snarled "It's probably poisoned"

To anger her more, he laughed then said "If I wanted to kill you my dear, I would have already done so by now. I wouldn't have risked exposure to bring you here alive. I may not be the greatest cook in the world but even I can tell you won't die from eating this"

"I don't want it" she snapped, her face and body showing confidence she didn't feel "I want to get out of here and have you locked up behind bars where you belong"

"So, you're saying you don't want breakfast?" he asked casually, his face unconcerned "Oh well, I suppose I'll give this to someone more appreciative, you can starve for all I care. But, it would be such a waste if you did"

As he turned away, she asked him a question. After thinking it through, she didn't care who he was, just –

"What are you?"

He stopped, his free hand on the handle, his other balancing the plate of food she had declined but couldn't help but want. He slowly turned to face her and smiled.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you" he smirked, bending down and placing the food on the floor "Hmm, I wasn't sure whether to keep you alive of not, but you seem . . . interesting. Enjoy your meal, Tifa Lockhart"

Her mouth fell open as she watched him leave the room. She ran over to the door as it shut and yelled at him as he locked it and secured the bolts "Hey! How do you know my name? Answer me you jerk! LET ME OUT!"

He didn't answer; she turned and looked at the food on the floor. Her stomach grumbled as the last thing she ate was Aeriths' spaghetti, and she didn't know how long she had been here. Knowing that it was a bad idea, she knelt down in front of the plate, picked up the fork and stabbed one of the sausages. She eyed it carefully and sniffed at it. It smelt delicious and without thinking of the consequences she bit a chuck off and swallowed before she had a chance to chew (was she really that hungry?). He hadn't been lying, he wasn't the best cook in the world as she had tasted better, but right now she didn't care. Right now it was the most delectable dish in the entire universe.

She scoffed the whole thing down, feeling a little foolish as she set the knife and fork down onto the empty plate. She went back over towards her little makeshift bed and sat with the sheet over her crossed legs. She tried again to come up with a plan to get out of here, but the only thing she could come up with was to either over power him or use speed to out manoeuvre him. But she remembered how strong he had been back at the house and how quick he was too.

So she decided to think of his weaknesses, but she couldn't come up with one. He seemed to be some sort of super human or robot programmed to kill and kidnap. She had ruled out that this was a dream as she could feel, smell and taste everything, and the fear inside of her was very much real.

So, she added together everything about him – his enhanced strength, speed, good looks and the way he killed. The only thing her mind could say was vampire. But they weren't real were they? Just like witches, monsters and other mythical creatures weren't real.

Sure she had read books and saw films about them but they were all fictional and just used as a cheap thrill. But this man being a vampire was the only conclusion her worn out brain could assess.

Where was Aerith when you needed her? Something holy like a cross would be helpful right now.

He entered the room again to collect her plate about half an hour later and was quite amused to find how quiet and calm she was being.

"So" he smiled "Despite thinking it was poisoned, you were hungry enough to potentially kill yourself by eating it? Hm, that's quite funny"

"Piss off" she snapped, not even looking at him "But before you do, can you at least humour me by telling me your name?"

He smirked and said "It's Cloud. That's all you need to know for now"

"Well Cloud" she said "You do realise I'll have people looking for me right? I have a very paranoid housemate who would have called the police as soon as I didn't turn up the night you kidnapped me"

"I did realise that yes" he said "And it's all been taken care of. Right now, your friends and colleagues all think you're visiting some old school friends"

"Like they'd believe that" she laughed "They're not stupid"

"Then you obviously over estimate them" he replied "But then again, my associate was quite believable when he wrote the letter to them"

"Ha" she scoffed "I never write letters. And I've been told I have quite distinctive handwriting"

"Well, either way" Cloud said "No one has been alerted about your disappearance. And about your other question about me knowing your name? As an agent, you really should learn not to carry around your real ID with you on missions. It's a giveaway in situations like this"

She quickly stood up and glared into his eyes so hard, if she could, his head would have been blown into pieces, but he just sent her a mocking smile and left the room. She kicked her pillow across the room and screamed.

Day Two

Well, today it had been confirmed to her that in fact, Cloud wasn't an ordinary human being. Whatever had crawled up his ass that morning had sent him into a foul mood and he had released his anger out on her. It also didn't help that she had tried to stab him with her knife as he came into the room to collect her plate. She sat in the corner of her room, slightly shook up over what had happened and what she had witnessed:

She waited, knife in hand, behind the door and ready to strike. She had eaten her food carefully and decided that today she would make a break for freedom. Her palm was sweaty and she quickly rubbed it against her trousers. She only had to wait for a few more minutes until she heard the many locks of the door click and the handle move downwards. As it opened, she flung herself at him, knife aimed at his heart but before she had time to hit, he slapped her arm away causing the knife to fly across the room and then she was painfully pinned to the wall.

"You dare" he growled, his arm pressed against her throat causing her difficulty breathing. She opened her eyes slightly and saw a brief look at his mouth where his canine teeth had enlarged, and she almost fainted. She could feel him shake out of pure fury and his breath was haggard. She tried to speak but he grabbed her by her shoulders and flung her into the same wall the knife had been flung at. She landed next to it but before she was able to reach out for it, he was there in a blur, the silver utensil in hand, a large frown on his face.

"I guess my generosity is not appreciated" he snarled, staring straight into her eyes "Believe me Miss Lockhart, you do not want to piss me off. You'll deeply regret it. Just be thankful I haven't killed you yet"

And with that said, he walked over towards her plate, picked it up and left the room, slamming the door hard enough to make the whole room shake.

She just couldn't get the sight of those – those fangs out of her head. That had confirmed it for her, alongside the strength, speed and the way he killed the other man, he also had the fangs too. He was a vampire! A damned, human killing, walking dead vampire! She never would have believed it until that point.

That got her thinking about the position she was in now. Was she being kept in here as his next meal? Was this room his version of a fridge? How many other people had been kept here, waiting to die as his dinner? If so, how many other vampires were there? One? Ten? Maybe even a hundred? She shuddered at the thought.

She soon came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to get out of here. The only way she was getting out was through his stomach! Did vampires eat humans or just suck their blood? Well, she wasn't going to ask him. For the first time in her life, she was genially terrified for her life. Why did she have to be so foolish, taking up this job in secret? So now if she did die, the police wouldn't know where to begin. She would just be another statistic. She was never one to cry out of misery, but she could feel the tears well up in her eyes. She pulled her legs close to her chest and rested her head on her knees, willing herself not to sob her heart out. It was useless, she cried like she had never cried before.

He didn't turn up with food for the rest of the day like he did yesterday. Yesterday, he had brought her breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. Today he had left her to be hungry – not like she hadn't had practice not eating for days on end. The drinks he had given her were a mixture of fresh juice, coffee and tea. But, when he made his second appearance of the day, he had slammed a jug of tap water on the floor and left the room without even looking or speaking to her. He didn't make another appearance.

Day Three

"I'm letting you go free" Cloud said that afternoon when he had come to pick up her dinner plate. She stared, open mouthed at him, not believing what he had said.

"What?" she gasped

"You're free" he said in a monotone "But, mark my words. If you break the rules I'm about to set you, you'll face the consequences"

"And what are these rules?" she asked

"Well, as you shouted at me this morning, claiming to know what I am, I'd like you to keep it to yourself and tell no one" he said.

This morning, as he had opened the door, she had yelled that she knew he was a vampire and he didn't exactly deny it either.

"And if I do tell someone?" she said

"One, no one would believe you and two, you and the person you told will be killed. End of" he answered "Also, don't tell anybody about me. You haven't seen me; you don't know my name, you've never even met me. Clear?"

"But you're a murderer" she cried "It's my job to bring criminals to justice. I can't let you freely go around killing people"

"It's no different than humans killing animals for food" he said "That's all I'm doing. I only need to drain one person a month. And before you start telling me to go and eat animals, their blood for some reason is poisonous to us. So we can only drink human blood"

She felt sick as he told her that, then asked "Why are you setting me free"

He sighed "Because I've eaten this month and luckily for you, I like you. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My heart may have stopped beating over three hundred years ago, but it's not cold. So, once you get home, you need to say you were with old school friends like the letter said, ok? Tell them you left your phone so you thought you'd leave them a letter. Do that and nobody will get hurt"

"And if I don't follow your rules?"

He smiled cruelly "You seem like a woman who wouldn't care about getting threatened herself, so I took the liberty to do a little research on you. If you don't follow my rules, wouldn't it be a shame for someone close to you to take the rap? Maybe your little housemate, what was her name again? Aerith? Or maybe even your cop friend Barret? If that didn't convince you enough, I have no shame in threatening little six year old girls"

She gasped in horror; he was threatening to harm or kill the three people that meant the world to her. Sure, Barret would be able to handle himself, but not Aerith or Marlene. She wouldn't dare dream doing something that would harm them. Against her better judgement, she nodded in agreement.

He smiled, stood up and held his hand out for her.

"Come on then" he said "You do want to go home right?"

She stared at his hand like he was holding a bomb, and got up without his help. He shrugged and led her out of the room. The rest of the house looked like an abandoned household. Furniture and possessions were cluttered around the floor and pictures and paintings hung crookedly from the walls. Whoever had lived here must have been in a hurry to leave.

"Where are we?" she asked as they went down the stairs.

"Outskirts of Midgar" he replied "The whole street is set to be demolished later this year. People had to abandon their homes as Wutai troops attacked here about a year ago. This is one of the few standing house left after they fought with the Shinra army"

"I read about that" she muttered as they left the house to a black sky scattered with stars. She took a welcoming breath in and let the wind whip at her face and through her hair, which she wanted to wash as soon as she got home, (if he was being honest about letting her go and not taking her somewhere secluded to kill her).

He opened the passenger door of his car for her and she just stood there staring at him. He rolled his eyes and said "Do you want a lift or do you want to walk? For the last time, I'm not going to kill you. As long as you abide by the rules you accepted, you're safe"

She hesitated but got into the seat, strapped on her seat belt and flinched as he slammed the door after her. He walked around the back of his vehicle and got into the driver's seat. He turned it on then, without warning set off with tremendous speed. She gripped the seat belt as they flew down the almost empty roads, and had to do emergency stops when red lights came on.

"Not going to kill me huh?" she tried to joke.

"Not on purpose" he laughed, bolting forwards as the light turned amber, obviously too impatient to wait for it to turn green "It's not my fault if you have a heart attack"

"Gee thanks" she muttered, testing the belt to make sure it was sturdy, and she didn't fancy being flung forwards and into the windscreen. It took them ten minutes to get to her house (he already knew where she lived, much to her displeasure). She got out of the expensive Aston Martin, promised to keep his identity a secret and turned to her house as he sped off. She ran through her alibi in her head once again then went up the steps. Before she got to the door, Aerith flung herself at Tifa who only had a second to catch her and balance them on the step so they didn't fall down.

"You had me so worried" Aerith yelped "I was about to call the police until I got your letter. I thought – I thought-" she paused and sniffed Tifas jacket "Well, right now I think you need a bath! Didn't they have a shower in the place you were staying?"

Tifa rolled her eyes "Of course they did. Now are you going to let go of me so I can go inside?"

Aerith stepped backwards and followed her friend inside; she shut the door and watched as Tifa jogged up the stairs and into the second floor bathroom.

She tugged her clothing off, flung them into the laundry basket and turned the shower on. While the water was heating up, she retrieved two pearl white towels from the cupboard and placed them aside. She looked at herself in the mirror and instantly brushed her teeth. While she did that, Aerith knocked on the door and said "So, who did you say you were with again?"

"A friend" Tifa answered, spitting toothpaste into the sink and washing it away with some water "I explained it all in the letter"

"Well you could have let me know beforehand that you were going away for a few days" Aerith said, sounding a bit sad "People always seem to disappear on me"

"Look I'm sorry" Tifa said, getting into the shower and sighing in relief as the water hit her head and back "I met them at the station and they were leaving quickly. I had no time to stop by and tell you. And I left my phone here and they had a blackout. So I sent the letter coz I couldn't call"

"Ok" Aerith sighed, leaving Tifa to enjoy her shower in peace.

Tifa had never been good at lying, and she felt horrible doing it to her best friend. She knew Aerith had a history of people walking out on her without a word, but she couldn't help that a psychotic vampire had kidnapped her. Aerith had a love for flowers, so she decided that after visiting Cid, she would buy her some to make it up to her.

After washing her hair and scrubbing her body clean, she turned the water off, wrapped herself in the towels and went up to her room. She got changed into her night clothes and fell onto her comfortable bed. She hugged the quilt like a kid would hug a puppy and couldn't help the large grin that had spread across her face.

"Oh I've missed you" she said to the bed "I promise to never leave you again, will you take me back?"

The bed must have said yes, as to her, it just got a whole lot more comfortable. Within seconds, she fell into a deep sleep, vampires and hot blond men didn't appear in her dreams.

Well, that was chapter two. Hope you enjoyed reading at as much as I did writing it. I'd love to hear what you think of it so far (love, hate or unsure?) So please leave a review. Until I write again, Keza x