CHAPTER 6: Holy Water
Cloud and Aerith pass down the quiet sector five streets. He rides at his usual speed, though he adjusts the handlebars ever so often; a little to the left, a little to the right. After the hard fall earlier, handling the motorbike didn't feel the same. Holding Cloud's hips, Aerith kept yelling, calling him. "CLOUD! CLOUD!"
Finally, Cloud hears her, tilting his head. "What's wrong?"
"This way, you should have turned five blocks ago," Aerith points in the previous direction. "You're distracted, aren't you?"
Her accusation has a point, he thought. He has single-mindedly directed his motorbike to sector seven where Tifa's bar is located, thinking of her. Yeah, is Tifa alright? Did she get home safely with Barret? "Ah, sorry." He slows down. Cloud then, with some effort, turns the damaged bike around. He accelerates, the air whipping his spikes, and he takes a deep breath.
Not long after that, another motorbike heads in their direction.
"GOTCHA!" yells the rider.
"What?" Cloud is startled as the sound of the stranger's motorbike growls and grows closer.
He checks on the rearview and notices that the rider is the Turk who's been chasing him from the highway. And there are now two! He didn't consider that they would use a motorbike too. Cloud smirks, feeling his luck coming back to him. His target is back, and he is ready to hunt. If he can get past this, he would be one step closer towards facing the elite vampires of Midgar. I'll kill two and prove myself to Barret.
He then warns Aerith. "Looks like we can't go home yet."
Aerith turns to see what's pursuing them and nods. "Time to do your job, bodyguard!"
"It'll cost you a lot, Aerith."
"You're getting paid, one date ought to do it." Aerith grins and tightens her hold around his waist.
"The pay sucks." Disapproving, Cloud shakes his head. Not Jessie, not this new girl; why do they always….
"Oh, you're not funny!" she pouts, rolling her eyes.
Cloud wants to draw his katana from its sheath but they approach from the right side, where he squeezes the accelerator. So he picks up speed again, ignoring Aerith's protest that they should turn back to the church since she claims it's a safe place. Before long, they were chased past the river. Then he steers his motorbike down to the riverbank where the dirt is covered with grass, and parks near the jagged stump of a long-dead tree. He glares towards the singular light of the bike, coming ever closer, then slowing down.
"Don't get away too far, Aerith," Cloud orders as he dismounts his motorbike. Aerith takes off her helmet and nods. He steps forward and holds a fighting stance towards the two vampires who finally park their motorbike yards away. They hop off, one of them straightening out the cuff on their suit.
Rod takes out his weapon, a metal stick. "Shall we play two on two with 'em?"
"That spiky guy is your half," said Reno. "I'll take the girl."
"You're not helping, Reno."
"Remember the Turks' motto."
"Damn, that again, huh?"
"Besides, Tseng just said I had to keep an eye on her. So that means you can't hurt her." Reno chuckles under his breath. "Make it quick, too, I don't wanna have to get dirty just because you couldn't handle the pipsqueak."
Rod huffs. "I'd rather you get the brunt of it, thanks."
"HUH! That's why I prefer working with Rude." That answer makes Rod laugh.
Cloud doesn't like the two vampires making light of the situation. They think it will catch me off guard, huh? But he also hears their conversation and it raises a question. The Turks are watching Aerith for a reason. Yeah, she wasn't lying when she asked him to be her bodyguard in front of the church. But they aren't random vampires just targeting her to be their meal. What's it for? Did Aerith know this all along?
"Okay, okay," said Rod, relenting. "I'll keep him away from the girl for you."
This is bad , Cloud thought. "AERITH!"
When Cloud turns his head for an instant to check on Aerith, Rod quickly darts in front of him.
"What are you looking at?" quipped Rod.
Damn! Cloud gasped at Rod's speed, nearly catching him off guard. Metal chimes together as he parries the Turk's surprise attack, then another meant for his head. Rod's attacks increase in intensity, now aiming for Cloud's sides, making him wobble out of his stance. It was difficult to get a hit in, but Cloud notices, finally, that Rod wasn't trying to kill him just yet. He side-eyes Aerith and realizes that he was much further from her now.
Meanwhile, Reno steps towards Aerith, who is brandishing her silver staff. Reno laughs at her and shakes his head.
"I know how to use it," says Aerith playfully.
"Try it," Reno grins with a shrug, amused.
Aerith pouts, then swings the staff straight at Reno's face. The staff arcs through the air, and he bends backward just enough where it glides by harmlessly.
"Haha, close, but no cigar," he teases.
Not giving up, Aerith continues to swing her staff every which way; sideways and towards Reno's neck, straight down his shoulders, poking him in the stomach from the front, brushing his legs; but all she did was cut through empty space.
"Stop messing around, Reno!" Rod admonishes, still fighting Cloud.
"You're fooling around too," counters Reno, as he observes the game Rod had made of the battle.
Aerith attacks but Reno doesn't dodge this time, parrying her staff by gripping it. She tries to release it but he pulls the staff. Being less powerful, she's pushed forward right to his face.
"Okay, that's enough," says Reno, looking down on her closely. "I don't know what Tseng wants from ya, but you're making me lose my leisure time. If it weren't for you running away with AVALANCHE, I wouldn't have to chase ya."
Aerith's brows scrunch together. "Tseng?"
"Don't ya know him?" asks Reno, reading Aerith's expression. Though, he slowly blinks, feeling that his vision is getting blurry.
"Tseng ordered you? Can I meet him? I want to talk to him," continues Aerith, pleading. It's about 'him ', she screams in her heart. Tseng must know where he is.
Reno starts to go limp. He grabs her by the shoulder to keep his balance. "Whad'did'ya say, huh?"
From afar, Cloud can't help but glance Aerith's way when he has a chance to. He can see that they're talking, but judging from intimidating Reno's posture, he fears for her life. "AERITH!" he shouts, worried, but Rod immediately blocks his view of her. Cloud swears and keeps up the offensive. "Damn it."
Hearing Cloud shout her name, Aerith believes he needs her help. She bites her lip and looks over towards Cloud, then back at Reno. Reno looks like the wind had been knocked out of him, one of his grips still on the silver staff. Aerith jerks it from his grip then cracks him in the face with it. Reno yells, holding his bleeding nose. Quickly, she then smashes her staff into the redhead's temple, dropping him to the ground.
Reno wonders why it hurts so much since it was only a simple blunt object, let alone the weak swing. It was beneath a vampire of his class. Hold on… Is that thing made of real silver?
Meanwhile, Aerith dashes towards Cloud as he continues to battle Rod.
"Stop, it's not safe!" Cloud warns her as she comes running.
Rod looks shocked. His partner, Reno, is defeated by a weak woman. He divides his focus between Cloud, who is still persistently swinging his sword, and Aerith, who slips her hand into her dress pocket. It puts him on edge as he wonders what kind of hidden weapon the girl might reveal.
Suddenly, Cloud feels water splashed on his face. "Aerith, what the..."
His words faded. He sees Rod's face, doused with water, white smoke billowing off his skin. The vampire groans in pain while scratching his redding, blistering cheeks.
"ROD!" Reno also sees it. "W-What was that?"
Cloud rubs the water off his face and quickly looks at his hand; whatever was in that water wasn't harming him. Glaring at Rod, he wasted no time in raising his katana, not letting the opportunity Aerith gave him go to waste. With one swift cut of his blade, Rod's head slips off his neck and onto the ground with a soft thud. Aerith screams at the sight and jumps back as Rod's blood splatters everywhere. Rod's body falls to the ground and turns into a human-shaped pile of grey ash, scattering into the wind.
"FUCK!" curses Reno, who scrambles up and promptly leaps across to the other side of the river. "Tseng told me to watch this deadly girl... But why?" But it's useless for him to wonder if his boss did not explain why. Isn't he the one who knew the Turks' motto best of all?
"Damn! He got away," Cloud says, his disappointment apparent. He turns to Aerith and tilts his head. He points at the little bottle with a spray top in her hand. "What is that?"
"Holy water," she replies. "I got it from the pool inside the church, that's why I said it's the safest place to be. My mother told me it was effective at getting rid of vampires, so I always carry a bottle just in case. Finally came in handy!"
"So that's what they targeted you for?" asked Cloud. putting his katana to its scabbard.
"I think so…" Her smile became something insincere as her eyes went distant. "Vampires killed my mom when I was a kid. Now I'm living with my adoptive mother." She slipped the bottle back into her pocket.
He understands now how Aerith knew the weaknesses of the vampire. The silver staff and the holy water, knowledge passed down from her mother. Sympathy wells in Cloud; he, too, lost his mother because of the machinations of a vampire, the same one who had burned his hometown to the ground. Sephiroth. Shaking the thoughts from his head he looks back at Aerith, who is now kneeling on the ground, praying, by Rod's remains.
"Aerith?" he says, hesitantly. She doesn't answer yet, still praying.
"Even though he's a vampire, what you did is murder," she replies finally, standing up.
"I told you I'm hunting them. Pretty clear I won't let them live if I meet them."
Aerith turns to Cloud. "Are you from AVALANCHE?"
"Yeah," replies Cloud. He puts his hand on his hip. "How do you know of it?"
"The red-haired vampire said that. Besides, I grew up here. So I've heard of your group even though I did't remember the name," she continues, then puts her hands behind her back. "By the way, Cloud. You said you knew a vampire three months ago, right?"
"Yeah, why?" He crosses his arms over his chest.
"Nothing," Aerith shakes head. "It's just a coincidence."
Cloud raises an eyebrow. "Coincidence? What kinda coincidence?"
She looks down at the grass. "Well, I lost contact with my boyfriend three months ago."
Cloud wonders if her boyfriend was killed by vampires since Barret said many people who were missing are likely their victims. But he feels it would be insensitive to say so as he gazes at her gloomy expression. "It must be pure coincidence. I met a vampire in my hometown, not in this city."
"My boyfriend wasn't in Midgar," she looks up at him. "He was going on a trip to a mountainous area for a week with a friend, he said."
"Oh?" Cloud's eyes narrow. "Did he also tell you what town he went to? I'm from Nib-"
DZIIIIING…..
Cloud feels dizzy again all of a sudden and a flash of memories come in.
-"You're my puppet now, kill him."-
-"CLOUD! Tifa is safe! Open your eyes!"-
-"You bastard, what the hell you do?"-
Shivering, he looks at his hand. He knows he can't really get a full night's rest since the day Sephiroth burned his town. But this is different from the nightmare he gets almost every night where the silver-haired bastard slays Tifa right in his face. This started after meeting Aerith, he realizes. Why?
"Are… Are you okay?" asks Aerith, holding Cloud's hand.
Slowly, his focus turns back to her. "...Yeah. So what is the name of the town he went to?"
Aerith stares intensely at him, as if looking deeply for what's hidden behind his eyes. It makes Cloud uncomfortable and she catches it. "Sorry, I'm bumming you out." She steps back and smiles softly. "It's okay, I bet you two have never met. It's a whole wide world."
Cloud hesitates, then shakes his head. He tilts his head towards the motorbike and Aerith nods. Just then, as he turns to get his bike, his cell phone rings. It turns out that despite the crash, it was not damaged.
Cloud grabs it from his pocket and flips it open. "Hello?"
"Cloud, where are you, it's been hours! You're okay, right?" A worried woman's voice was on the other side.
"Ah, Tifa. Sorry, I'll be a little late. I still have to take someone home. She...got involved. And you? You're safe, right? " asked Cloud, no less worried.
"Yeah, Barret and I are fine. We managed to knock out the Turks who were chasing us. If you were there, you could have killed them easily."
"Hn," Cloud makes a face, turning his head to the side. He feels his cheeks heat up "Maybe."
"You sound dissatisfied."
"Maybe I'll tell you why later."
"I see. I'll be here. Get home safe!"
The conversation ends and Cloud closes his cellphone.
Following by his side, Aerith chimes, "is Tifa a girl?"
"She is."
"Your girlfriend?"
Cloud suddenly avoids her eyes. "N-no!"
"Must be someone special," speculates Aerith, increasingly nosy. "You spoke softly to her."
Cloud doesn't like being interrogated like that. Not by Barret, not by the others. Even Aerith, whom he just met, teases him with such questions. "It's complicated."
"Ahaa, I get it," Aerith giggles. "Can I borrow your phone? I'd like to call my home."
Cloud then gives her the phone and Aerith dials.
"Mom, it's Aerith. Sorry, I'm not coming home tonight. There was a vampire out here and I'm afraid he'll follow me home. I don't want you to get involved, so I'll be home tomorrow morning when it's safe."
"Hey!" exclaimed Cloud because of Aerith's decision. What gives?
"I'm with AVALANCHE," Aerith continues on the phone. " I'm safe with them. They helped me."
"Aerith..." came her mother's voice. "You go to church at night, are you still trying to meet that guy? I told you he wouldn't come. If you didn't insist on going there, you wouldn't have met that creature tonight."
"Mom, vampires are everywhere. If not there, then somewhere else if I'm not lucky. I promise I'll go home in the morning. Don't worry."
"Oh Aerith, you never listen to me... I can only say 'be careful.'"
"I love you, Mom." Aerith flips the phone and returns it to Cloud. "Thanks."
"What the hell are you thinking?" Cloud is getting fussy, he would prefer to take her home. "Are we going back to the church now?"
"Oh no," she waves her hand. "If AVALANCHE has a female member then I want to come."
Cloud feels his ears burning. "We're vampire hunters. We slay vampires, and...you don't like that, do you?" he says suspiciously.
"Huh?!" Aerith raises her tone, hands on her hips, "And you didn't even thank me for saving you? Aren't I helpful enough to join? We could make a good team."
"I didn't ask for help," Cloud protests. "I could have taken care of them by myself."
"But its not your decision to make, since you're not AVALANCHE's leader," replied Aerith and then she approaches Cloud's motorbike to invite him to the idea even more. "Come on, let's go to your hideout."
Cloud sighs since she made a point. He never gets a say against her, never could keep his distance with a strong-willed girl like her.
Midgar's zero sector, located in the heart of the city, stands a grand 70-storey tower complex. Two security men run towards the sedan that was about to park in the basement, its windshield was punctured by bullets. However, the two security immediately back off as soon as they see the driver, who was none other than the Turks commander, even though his clothes have holes in them and are covered in blood. As he gets out, there's the clinking sound of bullets falling under the dashboard. Another one pushes itself out of his shoulder, dropping to the concrete. He then opens the back door for his boss. President Shinra was lighting his cigar in a rage. Of course, the incident was very frustrating.
"That annoying assault made me hungry," he growls, exhaling a trail of heavy smelling smoke.
The suited vampire calms down as they walk into the lobby and enter the elevator. It goes down underground and they continue walking until they stop in front of a door. President Shinra opens the door by swiping a key card. Opened, there are three naked women with their hands tied and their mouths gagged inside the cabin. They have tears in their eyes knowing what horror they would face after this because, since yesterday, there had been two other people in the room who had died. Now they are wondering whose turn it is today. No matter, whoever goes first, their fate won't change.
Yes, they are human.
Prey.
A special dinner for the President.
"Tseng, you know what you have to do," says the president, glancing at the Turk boss and stepping in.
"Leave it to us," Tseng responds, bowing before the door is closed.
He takes the cellphone that is ringing in his coat pocket. Not long after, there are screams from inside the room, but Tseng ignores it and walks away.
"This is Reno," said a voice on the other end of the phone. "That girl allied with AVALANCHE. Rod... he... he was killed."
Tseng tries not to growl hearing that one of his men was killed. It turns out that the new AVALANCHE cannot be underestimated. He's surprised because they just arrived two months ago and during that time, their activities have not yet reached such a dangerous level. Does this have something to do with a member of theirs who was struck with a motorbike?
"Get me Don Corneo," he orders. "We'll be hunting the hunters now."