Hey, guys!
Judging by the amount of reviews I recieved with the title Twilight in it, I feel the need to say I don't plan on these vampires being very Twilight-ish. They're mostly the traditional old-school vampires with a dash of some of the more modern and some personal touches. Please note that I have nothing against Twilight :) Thank you.
marinawings: Lol thank you so much! I'm really glad you're enjoying it :)
KazeRose: Haha why would you do that? And I can assure you that these vampires will NOT sparkle. Squall would kill me dead...
DaughterOfSorceress-Lion: Lol thanks! I hope this fight scene is alright...not my forte, you know XD Thanks again.
wais101: Thanks! It is kinda a bummer...but it does make for some excellent Squall angst XD Great start on your fic, btw :)
rebirth-flame: Lol I can assure you there will be nothing too terribly sappy, as far as their relationship goes. Probably just a few dramatic bumps in the road XD I dunno about the werewolves and whatnot...if an occasion comes up, I'll probably use them somewhere :D
Clement Rage: Thank you for your review and the constructive criticism :) I was thinking the whole vampire strength bit that would be covered in this chapter would be enough to cover how she'd take down the SeeDs. If it doesn't quite cut it, I can always go insert something somewhere on the matter. Thanks again for your review!
Squall waited in the awning of a door, not even breathing in his efforts to keep quiet. He heard footsteps approaching, and the scent of lilies and lavender permeated his sense of smell, along with a mouthwatering undercurrent of an indescribable scent. He knew the former scent as belonging to Rinoa. Even magnified a thousand times, he'd recognize the scent of her anywhere. He put the latter smell out of his mind.
Another odor soon found it's way to his nose and he couldn't help but wrinkle it in disdain. It was the scent of ice and death, and it came with a nonphysical presence he could feel with his mind. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and something shift in his mouth.
That startled him so that he almost gasped. He cautiously moved his tongue around and soon found the source of the disturbance. All four of his canines had extended by at least a half-inch, making his mouth feel tight and dangerous.
"Wait here, pet," Delancy's voice purred, jarring Squall from his thoughts. He saw her shadow thrown on the carpet before him and knew she had stepped into Irvine's former room.
The opportunity he had been awaiting had come. Without a second thought, he launched himself from his hiding place, his mind barely registering Rinoa's surprised countenance before he was far past her and slamming into Delancy.
The force of his charge took the vampire completely by surprise. She didn't even have time to alter her course before she was sailing out the window, taking bits of the surrounding wall with her. Squall heard her land with a solid thump in the snowy backyard.
He turned to Rinoa, quickly assessing her. She didn't appear to be harmed. She flinched under his gaze, but Squall didn't have to time to feel hurt. "Go out the front door, Rinoa. Get to the hospital and find Irvine."
With mouth agape and eyes still glistening with unshed tears, she nodded and ran.
She must have been very shaken to not argue with him.
He threw that thought out of his mind and leapt out the widened opening in the wall after Delancy.
She was brushing snow off of her dress, an amused light in her black eyes. "You intend to kill me, Squall?"
Squall didn't bother with a reply. He thought he was doing a pretty decent job of conveying his answer. With a snarl, made all the more vicious by his lengthened canines, he flew at her again. T his time, however, she reacted quickly and precisely, pivoting and landing a hard blow to his midsection that sent him flying backwards. He came to a jarring halt when he flew into a tree, snapping the plant like a toothpick. He landed in a smarting heap on the ground, but nothing felt broken.
"How do you plan to make it on your own, without me? A fledgling vampire like yourself wouldn't stand a chance in today's world." Delancy strode toward him slowly, like she hadn't a care in the world. Maybe she didn't. Maybe Squall really was no match for her. "You think your precious Garden will take you back the way you are now, Squall? They would sooner hunt you down and shoot you like a rabid wolf."
Squall staggered to his feet. Her words struck a nerve, but he couldn't succumb to her psychological blows. He was at the disadvantage enough as it was. She paused in her approach as he pinned her with a threatening glare. They then began to circle each other, like territorial cats.
"And what of your friends?" she asked, her mouth curving into a wry smile. "Sure you let your cowboy friend get away, but he didn't look at you quite the same, did he?" Her smile broadened. "You will soon find it difficult to befriend food, Squall."
With another feral snarl, Squall lunged again, exchanging several blows with the woman. If nothing else, he was pleased at the strength he now had. He could feel the power thrumming through his muscles, in place of a heartbeat, circulating more energy than blood ever could. It wasn't very long before he had her on the ground, slammed against a tree. He bent down swiftly and wrapped his hand around her throat.
"You're really going to kill me?" she cackled like it was the most ridiculous idea she had heard, her eyes blazing with barely restrained insanity. "Aren't you merely replacing one monster with another? You are now as much of an abomination as I."
"I am nothing like you," Squall growled darkly.
"Not in the beginning, no," she agreed. "But days from now, you will start to become very hungry. What will you do, Squall, when your companions begin to look edible? It's kill or starve, Squall."
"Then I'll just have to starve." With a quick twist, her neck snapped in his hands. Her body went limp, as deathly still as the night around them. He dropped her body into the snow and rose, wiping his hands of her.
He stared at her corpse for a long moment. She was dead, so why did he not feel more at ease?
He looked up as snow began to fall fast, the flakes blotting out the heavens with their numbers.
He suddenly felt very alone.
He turned and silently made his way back to the mansion. He tried to keep himself occupied with his agenda. He would find their things, pack them up, then head for the hospital. Hopefully they would be able to transport Zell and Quistis back to Garden immediately. He was doing all in his power to keep his mind off the not-so-distant future.
It was a stupid mistake really, given the circumstances. A rookie mistake.
He never stopped to make sure.
He had barely reached the staircase when his spine was snapped from behind.
He crumpled to the floor as his brain's communication with his lower body was severed. While he was there, Chiara Delancy found it appropriate to punt him across the room. He smashed into the wall before falling over fifteen feet. This time, however, he didn't have snow to cushion his fall, landing instead on the hard floor. Bones gave way with an audible snap upon impact, leaving him in a world of pain.
Delancy laughed, looking completely unharmed, but her eyes seemed to have grown darker, madder. It was like he was staring into her black soul. "We're not that easy to kill, Squall. With the proper nutrition, healing can be almost instantaneous." Her smile broadened. "But you haven't had the proper nutrition, have you?"
Squall felt his body healing, his spine, ribs, and other bones quickly knitting themselves back together. But it wouldn't be fast enough. She was already walking toward him to deal more damage.
"I guess this means I'll have to take the girl with me," she sighed. "You would have been such a worthy husband."
Her next blow shattered his pelvis. He gasped out of reflex, the pain spreading like a plague up his newly repaired spinal cord.
"And who will be here to save you, Squall Leonheart? Your friends have all forsaken you, now that you've become the predator."
"You're wrong." Squall's voice shook with pain and fury.
She gave him another smile, but Squall could sense some genuine sadness in it. He didn't know what to make of it. "Such is the life of a vampire. It's lonely at the top, Squall, and no matter how much kindness you show to those below, they will jump at any opportunity to trample you."
He wondered, for the briefest of moments, if her words were true. Would his friends seek to destroy him out of their fear? Would they give him a chance, knowing who he was, who he had been? Or would he be cast out, alone?
All his life had gone far out of his way to prevent ever feeling so abandoned, choosing a life of solitude to save himself from the sting of being forsaken. But after centuries of alienation, would he become like the vampire he saw before him, insane from loneliness and desperate for a companion?
Guess he wouldn't get to find out.
She reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a thin, iron stake. Cliché, yes, but Squall had the feeling it would be effective. "For both your sake, and mine, I will end your suffering and save you from centuries of it. Goodbye, Squall."
Squall watched with an almost morbid fascination as the stake was thrust toward him. It seemed to occur in slow motion, like he was being given an opportunity for final thoughts before being whisked away to the afterlife on Death's wings.
He remembered strange things in those eternal seconds. He remembered rainy afternoons at the orphanage he spent alone on the porch. His first and only pet, a kitten he had found. When he had received Griever. When he had made SeeD. When he had gone on his first mission.
Other, more significant memories rose in his mind. The first time he actually remembered meeting Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, and even Laguna. And Rinoa.
Rinoa.
I'm sorry.
The stake pierced his body with stunning force, burning its way through bone and muscle, but it stopped short of its target. It took Squall whole seconds to figure out that Delancy now had a large exit wound in her forehead. Despite the location, only a thin stream of dark crimson trickled down her face. She turned to glare at her attacker.
"Squall?!" The voice was frightened, desperate.
Irvine? "Get out!" Squall cried, but Delancy was already moving off to dispose of him.
And that was her mistake.
Squall dragged himself to his feet, trying desperately to gain balance with his mending bones. He saw Irvine, resolve set firmly on his face, firing round after round into Delancy's body. They barely seemed to slow her down as she stalked toward him. "Meddlesome fool," she hissed, barring fangs at her intended prey.
Squall charged forward, more like a drunken chocobo than a man with a purpose, but Squall wasn't interested in grace. He came in close behind her as she raised a fist to cave in Irvine's skull. In one deft move, Squall ripped the stinging iron from his chest and embedded it in her back. She gasped, arching her back against the pain. He used the heel of his hand to drive it home, into her heart.
Now she screamed, something purely animal that grated against Squall's delicate hearing. This time he was certain the temperature dropped, for a thin layer of frost covered his eyelashes and he could see Irvine's ragged breath curling into the air.
Then the temperature spiked as she burst into blue flames.
Squall darted around her, snagged Irvine, and rushed outside the open door. They stumbled out onto the snow, but Squall kept going until they reached the mansion gates. Only then did he release Irvine from his grip and turn to survey the scene.
He could see the unearthly glow of the blue fire through the door and windows, but couldn't make out Delancy's outline.
Irvine panted hard behind him. "What happened?" he wheezed.
"She combusted…" Squall informed uncertainly, his hand moving up to feel the hole in his own chest that was healing. If Irvine had been a second later, that would be him in there, burning. He turned to the cowboy. "I told you to stay away."
Irvine seemed to sense that Squall wasn't angry in the least. He only shrugged. "Got a bad feeling. Thought you could use some help anyways."
Squall turned back to the mansion. The flames were already shrinking. "Thank you," he murmured.
He could see Irvine's smile out of the corner of his eye. "Anytime, Squall."
Aww. Squall said "thank you" XD
Well, probably one more chapter and we'll be done here. I'm sure this will be an arc, with probably one or two more stories that'll go with it. I'll probably start on those after I finish up some of my other fics I have sitting right now.
Hope you all have a wonderful week!
God Bless,
-RainFlame
