(Chapter 10)

Not Vampires

"You did what!?" Reno yelled in a whisper. The two men stood outside on the porch while the shaken Yuffie sat inside on the couch peering at the two through a crack in the window.

So Vincent is a vampire too! And...Vivina knows now. I should go find her maybe together we can escape from them.

Reno turned his back to Vincent and Yuffie shot away from the window, hurrying to the kitchen to pretend to be busy drying the dishes. The way he slammed the door and let out that exasperated sigh, she knew he was upset. She tried to stay calm knowing how many times now she'd seen him slightly angry. He'd never hurt her before, why would he now?

"Is everything ok?" she turned to him as he paused by the doorway to the kitchen.

"Yeah... Vincent's moving to Kalm. He's gonna need help finding a place and getting settled in so I'm gonna be gone for a while. You might want to go back to your father's place for a while, Yuffie." For once he spoke without a hint of a smirk or his casual slouched posture. He was standing up right and looking at her with a very serious expression. She nodded quickly and put the dish she was holding away.

It was Reno's turn to be suspicious. Anytime he said he had to be out of town, Yuffie would cling onto him begging him not to go anywhere. She'd nuzzle and cuddle him until he either allowed her to come with, or just gave up and stayed. "Are you... ok with that?" he took a few steps towards her and observed how she tensed up. "Yuffie?"

"I...I'm fine!" she let out a laugh. "It's just... I'm just gonna miss him, that's all." she smiled up at him before tossing her drying rag aside and looking for something else to busy herself with. Reno blocked her path noticing her hard swallow. Kalm wasn't that far away. They would be able to go visit him anytime they wanted to so he knew that was a lie.

"What's wrong?" he asked looking down into her wide grey eyes. "You're acting weird, and I don't like it."

She looked down wondering would it be a good idea to let him know she knew. Her mind took her to the worst possible scenario. 'You know the secret... now I must kill you.' She saw him saying. She shook her head.

"Yuffie." he said again.

"Just go, ok! I'm fine!" she rushed past him and hurried into their bedroom locking the door. Reno paused for a moment then realized she must have been eavesdropping after all. He teleported into the room. Yuffie gasped and jumped into the bed throwing the covers over her.

"Yuffie... I'm not going to hurt you." he sat down on the bed and pulled the covers away from her face. The look in her wide eyes nearly broke his heart. "Did you not hear the part where I said you're not my type?" He cleared his throat and rephrased that. "My type as in what I would normally enjoy feeding on." He smiled at her and ruffled her hair. She flinched slightly but then sat up to face him.

"Y..you're a vampire..."

"Not exactly. I can eat normal food, I don't have to drink blood ever if I don't want to. I sleep at night, I can't turn into a bat, I'm not pale, my skin's not cold, I still have a heart beat... Do I need to go on?" he moved closer to her and kissed her cheek.

"Then what...?" He put a finger to her lips.

"I'm Reno, the same Reno you've known thus far and the same Reno I'll be forever, ok?" He cradled her round face in his hand. His persuasive abilities won her over and she was done questioning him. In fact she let out a sigh of relief and embraced him.

"But... why's Vinnie leaving? He doesn't have to drink blood either, right? So...he won't hurt Vivina."

Reno looked down with a sigh. "She is his type. When we get around our "type" it's hard to control the urges..."

"Oh.." Yuffie nodded. "So we should stop pressuring him because if he does get close to her he can..."

"Right." Reno cut in saving her from going into the gory details.

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Vincent left Reno's place walking aimlessly for a while. It had been a little more than a few hours now since his outburst. He was ashamed, embarrassed, and frustrated at the same time. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her lips coming towards his hungry for the affection he couldn't give to her. He licked his lips still tasting her sweet flavor. While walking he hadn't realized that he was going in the direction to her house. He stopped in his tracks and turned in a different direction. Just as he was about to cross the road, a cop car flew by him. He knew that car as officer Preston's. Had she called the cops? He wondered. He followed the car to see that its destination was indeed Vivina's home.

"What's wrong?" Preston asked her immediately pulling her into his arms. She was still slightly shaken, but had her bag on her shoulder and a pair of pants on now.

"S..someone's been stalking me here. I just need to leave for a while." she said pulling away from him. He nodded taking her bag off her shoulder and putting it on his own.

"Ok. That's fine, let's go. You can stay with me as long as you want."

Vincent watched as Vivina got into the police car. He didn't mind that. It wasn't until he saw the bag that he minded. She was going away to stay with him...His heart dropped into his stomach and he turned away from the scene. He tried to tell himself it didn't matter. He was leaving anyway and he wouldn't come back. He couldn't come back...

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Reno took care of the finances in getting Vincent a tiny one bedroom apartment on the first floor of a ten floor apartment complex. It was a bit grungy, but Vincent couldn't complain. Whoever lived here before obvious had kids and pets as there were carpet stains galore and crayon marks on the walls. They found him some roughly used furniture and a mattress. According to Vincent that was all he needed.

He was hired at a weapon shop, he would be in charge of cleaning and inspecting all the new weapons brought in to sell. Vincent was relieved that he wouldn't have to be involved with the public. He had a tiny room at the back of the shop where he could work and no one would bother him. Of course he would have to communicated briefly with the boss ever so often.

He laid down on his mattress ready to sleep for the first night in his new home. Sleep? Ha, who was he kidding. It had only been two days and he already missed the sight of her. He already felt the urge to torture himself with her presence. He looked over at the alarm clock that sat on the brown carpet next to his mattress. He could run all the way to Midgar and be there in less than five minutes... He rolled away from the clock. No... He wouldn't. He closed his eyes trying to force sleep upon himself. Surprisingly enough it worked and the next thing he knew he on his way to his first day of his new job.

"Vinnie! So, how's everything?" Yuffie asked cheerfully. Work had been ok, the apartment was ok, he was fine.

"Fine." he answered. He sat down on his mattress ready to listen to her. They decided to continue his language lessons over the phone and during Christmas vacation that started in just three weeks , she'd come visit him.

"Reno says hi. He hopes you're doing ok... you know, about the whole Vivina and the police officer thing." she covered her mouth instantly. "Oops. I wasn't supposed to say anything. I'm so sorry I mentioned it Vince, really."

"It's ok, Yuffie. I want Vivina to be...happy. I can't...be that person." he sighed and laid down. Yuffie quickly changed the subject and started elaborating on different verb tenses. She surprisingly had to get out a grammar book herself to make sure she was teaching him right.

After about an hour of listening to her, they hung up and Vincent tried to sleep again.

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Vivina woke up as a light lit up the room. Living alone, Baralai also had a very tiny one bedroom apartment. The kitchen and living room were practically one room they were so close. Him opening the fridge illuminated the whole area. She had always been so sensitive to any kind of light and on top of that she had been on edge these past few days wondering if her stalker was going to come find her here. She suspected that if he saw her living with another man he'd get angry. And there was no telling what that...whatever he was... had intended to do to them.

"Sorry." He mumbled. He was not a morning person and having this unexpected change to early morning shift had pissed him off. Not only that, today was Thanksgiving. It was four thirty now and he had to be at the department by five. "Early shift..."

"Mm." Vivina responded closing her eyes again. She was sleeping on his fold out couch wrapped in what seemed like a million blankets. The apartment complex was ten floors high and the heating was out sporadically through them. The vents in Baralai's bathroom and his bedroom gave heat, but strangely enough none of the others did. Of course he insisted that she take his bedroom, but she wouldn't. So he gave her every blanket in the house leaving himself with a thin sheet to sleep with. His bed was big enough for two, but he didn't want to insist that. He was happy enough with just having her there in his home. He stared at her as she slipped back into slumber. He had to admit he did always have something for those darker more mysterious beauties... Though he wanted nothing more than to spend the day with her, he dressed himself in his uniform and headed off to the station.

Vivina awoke again at a more reasonable time for her. Noon. She yawned as she headed over to the refrigerator. He kept the thing nearly empty. She was lucky enough to find some jam to put on her toast and some orange juice. Her cell phone rang again. This time instead of her mother it was Lulu.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?" Lulu asked.

"I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with the officer..." Vivina lied. She didn't want to go into the whole story about her stalker turning out to be some kind of rabid vampire.

"When were you going to let someone know? We've all been waiting. Mom's going to be terribly disappointed and so will father."

Vivina rolled her eyes. "It was last minute. His family's going to be in town only for Thanksgiving and he wanted to introduce me to his parents." She cringed at what a horrible lie that was. "They're from Costa Del Sol, so...they don't know..." She added trying to make the lie a little more believable. No one around here would be so eager to introduce her to their parents.

"I see." Lulu sighed heavily. "Mom will kill you if you miss Christmas. Bye." she hung up without another word. Vivina sighed and pushed her cell phone to the side as she finished her breakfast. She blinked slowly and the memory flashed through her mind again. The huge fangs... the look of pure fury in his crimson colored eyes... the force that sent her flying across the room into her coffee table. She looked down and stroked the purple bruise that her tattoos almost completely hid. But that wasn't the only memory that haunted her. The feeling she got from his embrace was unlike any embrace she'd ever felt. It was like she was at home there. Holding him like that, it was the first time since Squall's death that she felt like she was in a place she belonged. She laughed to herself. Was this her karma? Wanting to belong to a monster... After eating she stepped outside on his balcony to smoke a cigarette. Her eyes scanned the streets below looking for a black figure that would undoubtedly be him. He wanted her to stay away, but would he? She shivered and went back inside. She wondered if Reno knew about his friend. And what about Yuffie? That poor naive little seventeen year old... She couldn't resist calling Reno's number.

"Yo, who's this?"

"Vivina."

Reno slammed on his breaks and pulled over.

"Whoa...is everything ok?" she asked hearing all the tires squealing.

"Yeah... uh...so what's up?" He hurried out of his car slamming the door and walked a few feet away. The woman in his passenger seat just watched in suspicion.

"Your friend, Vincent...he's not... you know he's not normal right." Vivina said a little more casually than she thought she should have.

"I know he told me what happened. Look, Vincent's not out to harm you. In fact two days ago he moved to Kalm so that he could stay away from you." Reno said sitting down on a bench by a bus stop. The woman in his car just crossed her arms and sighed.

"What is he?"

"We are humans that just happened to be manipulated by this weirdo science nerd name Hojo. Yuffie calls us vampires, but that's not really what we are. It's a long story... but at any rate, Vincent is kind of dangerous to you but it's not his fault. So don't start hating him or anything, ok? That would really hurt him." Reno kept his eyes on the woman in his car.

"Ok... " Vivina trailed off.

"Look, I'll explain more to you later. I gotta go." he hung up before she could say anything else. Vivina sat her phone aside again and curled back up on the couch.

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Reno hung the do not disturb sign on the door before slamming it shut. I hate this...I hate this... He heard her giggling behind him and suddenly she jumped on his back. Her scent filled his nostrils, lighting his eyes up and pulling his fangs out. He flipped her over his back onto the bed and dove at her. He pushed her long chocolate brown hair over her shoulder and dug his fangs into her neck. He did it so quickly she hadn't had time to scream. She was dead before she even realized what happened to her and Reno didn't leave a single hair of hers behind in that hotel room...

They didn't have to do this. But it was like a drug to them and once you've gotten addicted... Plus, each human life consumed made them more powerful. Another twenty lives and Reno would be able to teleport from town to town instead of just block to block. He didn't want to think about the twenty people who would have to die to get him that far, but the demon inside him didn't care...