TRIVIAL SIDENOTE: Tomorrow's actually going to be Valentine's Day! Anyway, back to the story....told from Bella's POV

'It's the only way, Carlisle,' Edward reasoned. 'How else can we be sure that Valentine is of no threat to us?'

'Look,' Jasper said. 'We'll all be at the sides, watching. We'll be there to monitor the situation. Nobody needs to get hurt. There's eight of us, Jacob's pack, and Sam's pack. We've got more than enough to protect everyone.'

I didn't like the idea much either, although I was very curious to see Valentine fight – how could anyone move around in all those layers of leather and metal?

'Well that's settled then,' Jacob said and walked into the living room, followed by Jasper.

'Hey there Vincent,' I head him say in the next room. 'I know we didn't get off to a good start, but there's been a rogue vampire running around outside and we need your help to destroy it.'

I heard the sound of a chair being scraped back.

'Awesome.' Cid's voice. 'Count me in.'

***

For someone who carried a weapon twenty-four-seven, I suppose fighting would only be natural. Both Cid and Valentine heartily agreed to 'help' us eradicate the troublesome vampire, not realizing it to be a test. A test which I hoped they would not pass.

Carlisle, after reluctantly agreeing to our plan, supplied us with a bag of donated human blood to draw out the rogue vampire. Not all of us took part – only Jacob's pack, Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and I. The wolves made themselves invisible in the bush, while the rest of us hid in the trees, ready to drop down should Valentine fail.

The scent of the fresh blood we poured on the ground wafted into the trees where I hid, distracting me, igniting the flames of thirst in my throat. I did my best to suppress it, but Cid and Valentine were two live creatures with blood pulsing strongly in their veins…warm, running blood, walking slowly beneath the trees. So easy to drop down on them…

I shook my head and, as a distraction, tried to focus on our earlier conversation, where I asked Cid and Valentine if they were werewolves. Both vehemently denied, and Cid said human while Valentine remained silent when I asked what they really were. Evidently, Cid was lying, for Alice couldn't see his future at all.

'He's here!' Alice whispered. 'Or rather, he'll be coming here in five minutes.'

We waited…

And waited…

And waited…

'There!' Alice whispered triumphantly, nodding her head at a clump of shrubs to my left. I forgot the scent of the human blood as I saw Valentine and Cid turn. The shrubs moved, parted, and out stepped a tall vampire with blond hair and brilliant crimson eyes brighter than Valentine's.

He lifted his head and sniffed the air, no doubt savouring the scent of the human blood.

'Yar!' Cid yelled and charged, thrusting his spear out in front of him.

Fool! I wanted to shout, seeing the vampire swiftly dodge. But the spear did hit, and, instead of snapping when it came into contact with the vampire's granite skin, went clean through him, ripping out a chunk of his arm. This was no ordinary spear, I realised. A fission of fear went through me. Cid could easily kill –

The vampire gave a roar of agony, ripped the spear out of his arm and punched Cid, sending him flying into a tree. Valentine ran forward, whipped out his gun and fired, fired, fired.

No effect.

I heard the thunderous cracks when the bullets came into contact with vampire skin, and tiny white pieces did come flying off (which, judging by the look on the rogue vampire's face, caused pain), but there was absolutely no way Valentine could kill a vampire. I relaxed. Valentine was of no threat to us. I gathered myself and prepared to jump down to save his life.

'Look!' Alice said.

The vampire lunged at Valentine, who ducked and avoided the blow easily. Man, that guy really had speed. He then jumped forward, and like he did with the bear yesterday, punched the vampire, causing him to fly through the air and crash through the underbrush.

Enraged, the rogue vampire picked himself up and charged at Valentine, who raised his gun and began to fire nonstop. Smoke hissed from the barrels. Did he have unlimited ammunition? Surely, sooner or later the bullets would run out. And where was the red smoke and gold eyes?

The vampire swung his arm through the air, but Valentine used his gun like a bat and blocked the blow. When he used his other fist, Valentine rammed his armoured arm forward, twisted and sent him sprawling.

I looked closely at the metal. It was not even dented.

'Way to go, Vince!' Cid cheered, having gotten up and recovered. He seemed content to stand at the side and watch. Weird. Why wasn't he helping his friend?

Cid's voice seemed to rouse the stunned vampire. He picked himself up again and came at Valentine angrily, but I could see that this time he was more cautious, and advanced slower than before.

Confidence radiated from Valentine. He did not even break a sweat, which made me wonder – could he sweat? He wasn't human after all.

As though to show off his agility, Valentine vaulted over the vampire's head and did a complete somersault. I goggled at his acrobatics. He could make an Olympic gymnast jealous…

The vampire spun to face him. They closed in on each other, then Valentine raked his claws across the other vampire's face. A hideous screeching ensued, much like the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. The vampire gave a shriek of pain, clutched his face and backed away cautiously.

Then he lunged. He feinted to the left, causing Valentine to dodge to the right, and followed through with a full powered blow that hit its target, smashing straight into Valentine's face.

'Ouch,' Emmett winced, and fidgeted slightly. I could tell he wanted to join the fight.

Valentine staggered back several steps, though he appeared to be unharmed. Wow. I couldn't see any physical injuries, but he seemed to be slightly dazed. The blond vampire took this opportunity to grab the front of his cape and lift him high.

'How do you like it now, freak?' he hissed, and launched him into the trees. Valentine's body was a blur as it flew through the air.

What happened next was totally unexpected. Valentine's body, instead of being stopped by a tree, sailed clean through it. And it wasn't a sapling either. It was a giant, full grown pine tree.

He managed to snap that clean in two. Leaves, bark and splinters flew in every direction as the tree fell. I lost sight of his body, but three more trees behind the pine also groaned and fell, indicating that Valentine had destroyed those three as well.

There was debris everywhere, but all I could think of was: Valentine's body must be made of diamonds or something. How could anyone destroy four trees in a row just by being thrown into them?

'Vincent!' Cid shouted in panic.

I was about to jump down from the trees when the pile of debris exploded with the force of a small bomb. Red smoke issued everywhere.

Cid's face, previously transformed with anger at seeing his friend fall, now wore a very smug expression.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

A monster emerged from the explosion.

Literally, a monster. A demon.

What the Devil's cousin must look like.

It was a towering, grey skinned beast with giant bat wings. Elaborate armour encased both its feet, knees and left hand. Grey lines of some stiff material spanned from the center of its body to its sides.

Valentine. Of that there was no doubt. I saw the glowing golden eyes and bat wings.

The red bandage which he had wrapped around his head had now morphed into a complicated headdress that was spiky and covered most of his head. The top half of his red cape had dissolved into his body so as to look like a red breastplate. The ragged trimmings of his cape had turned into ragged wing flaps.

A white light pulsed at the chest of the creature like a bright target. I briefly wondered what would happen if I drove a sharpened stake of wood through it…

The creature gave one tremendous, shattering roar of rage and raised a heavy black and silver weapon slightly smaller than a rifle. It resembled a gun, only a gun, or any weapon for that matter, would not have four rectangular barrels.

It aimed this peculiar weapon at the blond vampire and fired. He, like us, had opened his mouth with shock at the monster, but on seeing the weapon pointed at him, he came to his senses and ran a short distance away.

So the shot, a vicious, white beam of light, missed and hit the tree behind instead.

The tree was not pockmarked. It did not explode. It vaporised.

A charred lump marked where it once stood.

Now if that hit the vampire…

I guess the rogue vampire probably figured out the fight was lost and that the forest was now a very unsafe place to be in. He turned on his heel and bolted.

The demonic creature spread its wings and soared up, up, up, over the treetops and into the sky until it became a speck of black against a vast background of blue. At first I wondered what it was doing so high up, then I realised that it was giving an aerial chase.

There was a rustle as Jacob's pack pursued.

'I'm going after him,' Edward announced and jumped down from his tree. The rest of us followed his lead. I saw Cid running in my peripheral vision.

As I ran, I felt sorry for the blond vampire. It was evident that the demon in the sky could easily keep pace, which meant that sooner or later, when the four-barrelled weapon tore into his body, there would be one less vampire in the world.

When we neared a clearing the demon dived from the sky. I caught a glimpse of its outstretched arm holding the weapon before it whooshed past my head and fired at the fleeing vampire.

The doomed vampire gave one despairing cry when the ray of white light slammed into him. Thundering cracks filled the air as he shattered. The battered pieces of him lay inert and smoking on the ground. A stunned silence descended on the forest. Most of us were frozen in horror.

The demon landed – slowly, gracefully, and walked to the spot where the rogue vampire was annihilated. Calmly, it pointed its weapon at the pieces and melted the broken remains.

There was a sizzling sound and a ghastly smell of burning. When the pieces were gone, silence fell again. A ring of eyes stared at the demon.

'One word of warning,' Alice whispered, as though afraid to let it hear her. 'Don't get Vincent angry.'

'That Valentine,' I said slowly, too shocked to think about anything else, 'is definitely no werewolf. He's a…' A what? I asked myself. A demon?

PLEASE NOTE: At the end of DoC (Dirge of Cerberus)Vincent says to Lucrecia 'Chaos and Omega have returned to The Planet' (or something along the lines of that). I don't really get it, and it sounds like Chaos is no longer one of his Limit Breaks. If Chaos still is, then great, this chapter makes sense. But if Vincent loses Chaos by the end of DoC…well, let's just pretend he hasn't, it makes him sound much more epic this way and I don't really want to spend a chapter explaining how he miraculously regained Chaos. 'Sides, Vincent and Chaos go together.