Chapter 10

"As of now, you have two options: let Tseng find you and kill you, or this." He held up one of the clear vials to show both vampires. "It's a serum I've worked on, possibly a way to turn you both human again."

Reno, leaning against one of the fallen pillars, scoffed. "What makes you so sure I want to be human again anyway?"

Vincent shook his head. "I figured you'd be skeptical about this," he noted the blonde still clinging to the redhead's arm. "However, you're not the only one I'm referring to." Elena glanced at the vampire, shaking her head.

"Vincent, what does that serum do?"

The red caped figure eyed the vial for a moment before continuing. "This serum was a last resort from one of Hojo's warped experiments. Though it was created, it was never used and put up in storage for some time." Reno gave a sharp exhale, showing his fangs in disgust. "No one in the Shinra Company interacted with Hojo unless you were a lab tech. I was seventeen when I worked in the lab before I reached the ranks of the Turks, and I remember working on an earlier version of the serum."

"That long ago? Why the hell did they need it then?"

Vincent crossed his arms. "I had managed to catch an unknown figure with the same qualities as a vampire, except that he could stand the sunlight. The serum was used as a means to render his powers useless, but he died before it could be tested. Because of that, the serum was frozen and put away for later use."

Elena took the vial from Vincent. "Weren't there any trial tests done?"

"There were two children - only one survived. The other one didn't make it."

Reno scoffed. "Those aren't accurate tests. That doesn't show anything."

"You should talk." Vincent handed the redhead the other vial. "You were one of the test subjects, remember?" Elena glanced at the red-haired vampire stunned.

Reno shut his eyes, shuddering. "How the hell could I not!? I was only seven years old!" He looked away, his gaze resting on the yellow flowers. "It gave me nightmares for weeks at a time." The blonde vampire slid the vial in her pocket, gripping his shoulder as the redhead glared at Vincent. "Anything else you want to tell me that I don't know about?" The vampire held the vial at the black-haired man's face. "Perhaps what this damned thing does?"

Vincent nodded. "This will take some time to explain."

Reno pulled from Elena's grasp and lunged at him, holding Vincent against the stone wall, fangs bared. "We've got enough of that, Valentine," he hissed. "Start from the beginning, and don't you leave any fucking thing out."

Tseng flipped through the pages on his desk, hoping to find something of use. Rude was down in the lab, obtaining the necessary equipment he would have to use against the 'vampires'. There were only two, as far as he and the president knew, and this was a last resort to keep it that way.

He stopped, a paragraph catching his eye:

'Vampires, though known to be immortal, are killed as simply as humans. The main way to kill them is through two steps - a stake through the heart, the head is to be chopped off and stuffed with garlic cloves. This method, somewhat gruesome, is effective to keep a vampire from coming back.'

Grimacing, Tseng turned the page over, letting the words sink in. A stake and garlic? He wondered how something that simple worked that well. Then he remembered Reno's reaction to his garlic-rubbed sword. It had left scars, dark black scars on the redhead's skin that never left. If the garlic was enough to burn, then a stake would do the rest of the job. It seemed too easy.

A knock at the door signaled that Rude was finished gathering what they needed. The Turk leader clumped everything together and set it in his desk folder. He gripped his sword, strapping it to his side.

"Sir?"

Tseng nodded. "We may have to pick up a few extra things along the way, Rude."

"So, if what you're saying is true, then-" Reno rolled his eyes, shaking his head. This was ridiculous. Hearing Vincent once was enough, but with Elena being slightly blonde; it had to be explained at least twice or more.

"You'll return to being human again." Vincent repeated exasperatedly, glancing at the red haired vampire. "How many times do I have to say this?"

"Get used to it, Valentine. 'Lena's a little slow." The vampire sighed, spitting out a lit cigarette. He glanced at the sky, fighting the dryness in his throat. Whatever, this is starting to bore me. The vampire slowly started to climb up the fallen stone pillar to reach the remains of the ceiling. He took one last look at the two figures below - Elena being her ditzy-blonde self and Vincent's growing irritation.

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"I couldn't say. It may have very fatal results."

Elena glanced at him worriedly. "Fatal results? You mean this could-"

"I doubt it would, but there's always some slight chance-" Vincent glanced where Reno was several moments ago. "Where'd Reno go off to?"

Elena swallowed hard, gazing up in the redhead's direction. "He's up there." Reno, what the hell are you doing?

What's it look like, 'Lena? The redhead's answer struck a nerve in the blonde. I'm being our lookout, so whenever the other two show up, we'll be gone from here. That 'nough info for ya?

The female vampire crossed her arms glaring daggers in his direction. You're gonna blow our cover, Reno. If you're killed first, I won't come looking for you.

Vincent glanced in the direction she pointed. "What does he see?"

Reno scoffed. Fine, then, be that way. He glanced out at the city, noting several figures moving towards the church in a black Company car. Leaning further out, the vampire focused his eyes on the driver and the co-pilot. The tinted windows weren't dark enough to fool him. Suddenly shots were fired, causing him to lose his balance. The vampire fell into the pool of water, splashing both Elena and Vincent.

"So, 'lookout', what do you see?" the vampire asked sarcastically, wiping her coat sleeves.

What the hell . . . Reno dragged himself out of the cold water and collapsed on the wooden floor, breathing heavily. Vincent managed to drag the vampire over to one of the pews and forced him to sit up. . . . Damn it . . .

"Reno, what did-" She stopped, noticing a charred hole tearing the redhead's jacket sleeve almost entirely off.

The redhead grimaced, clutching his shoulder. "Tseng . . . and Rude." Something had penetrated his skin, leaving a blackened exposed mark. He shut his eyes, wincing in pain. "They're . . . almost . . ."

"Holy shit . . ." Elena swallowed, grasping his hand. "How the hell-"

Vincent pried the vampire's hand loose, sliding a clawed finger into the wound and digging out two blobs of metal. Reno let out a piercing scream, puncturing her skin with his sharp nails. The dark haired man rubbed the inside of his right ear.

"Silver bullets." Elena, rubbing her hand, glanced from Vincent to Reno. "Melted-down crosses, I'll bet."

Reno shut his eyes, wincing. "Valentine . . ." The blonde vampire slid her arm around his waist and pulled his arm behind her neck, forcing him to stand. "We need to get out of here . . ." His injury was slowly healing, but nothing would make up for his lost strength.

"Vincent, he's right," Elena responded worriedly. "Isn't somewhere we can hide, other than here?"

The dark haired man nodded solemnly. "Follow me."

Tseng stood atop an adjacent rooftop, his gun still smoking at the end. His aim was dead on. Two melted cross-bullets should have done the job. Bullets that should have killed Reno the instant they hit him. Turk training taught him that a shot to the head was more fatal than a shot to the heart. But that applied to people, not vampires. Vampires were different than people. No matter how many times a vampire was shot, they would simply come back as if it had done nothing. That was with normal bullets. He had aimed for the vampire's head, but figured it would hurt worse in the heart.

The original plan was: Rude was supposed to kill Reno, but Tseng decided last minute that Rude should stay out of it. This was his vengeance against what happened to Elena in the Shinra Mansion. With Reno out of the way, he'd still have to kill Elena. That he would leave to Rude.

He dialed Rude on his PHS. "Have you found Reno's body?" At this point, Rude would be in the dilapidated church, performing the 'vampire hunter''s job of decapitating the vampire's remains. Something didn't feel right, like they had overlooked something.

". . . He's not here."
". . . What did you say?"