It started the evening of a cold storm.  I was supposed to visit Aeris like I usually did but strangely, me and a few others were asked by Sephiroth to stay and work late.  He seemed frustrated when he talked to us.  But I did not argue because even I was a little afraid of him.  He could probably take down an entire army with just his cold gaze.  There was just something about him that made no one want to challenge his opinions.  Anyone knew that if they did, they would surely lose.

            I was straightening some things out in the main hall when Yuffie silently came up to me.  She was one of the younger servants who were asked to stay later than usual.  She seemed scared and she kept her voice down to a whisper.

            "I found something in Sephiroth's room", she said looking around nervously.  I became curious.

            "What are you talking about?  You know no one is supposed to go in there", I said.

            "I know!  But I wanted to see what he was hiding.  You know I can't keep my curiosity to myself!" She replied trying to keep her voice down.

            "Okay, I get the idea.  What did you find?" I asked finally.

            I thought it was just one of her jokes that she usually makes at the worst times.  But when I saw the papers that she gave me, I became confused.  It was surely in Sephiroth's handwriting.  But why would he be writing things about nocturnal creatures called vampires?  And what was this thing called the Daylight Moon jewel?  I was more confused than ever.

            "What is all of this?" I asked looking at her.

            "Just keep reading!" she said still looking around for anyone that could be listening in on us.  I quickly flipped through the ten pages of tiny writing, looking at any words that seemed to be important.  I gave them back to her then.

            "I can't read all this now.  I'm busy", I said.  She sighed.

            "Don't you get it?!"  Her voice raised in volume a little.  "He's a vampire!"

            She quickly covered her mouth as the words echoed through the hall.  We started to hear faint footsteps leading into the hall and she gasped.  She grabbed my hand and pulled me into a room that was close by.  The footsteps went into the hall and stopped for a moment.  There was a loud crash of thunder and she jumped.  The footsteps started again and they faded away.

            "Why did you come to me about this?  Why not any of the others like Cid or Barret?" I asked.  She narrowed her eyes at me.

            "Do you honestly think they would listen to me?"  She had a point.  Both Cid and Barret had complained to me about her slight immaturity more than once.  Yuffie and I were the youngest working here but people always said that I was extremely mature for my age.  She also just became a servant a few months ago.  I nodded at her response and thought.

            "What do you mean he's a vampire?  I thought they didn't exist."

            "I don't know how they exist!  All I know is that he is one!  Everything just fits", she said.

            She explained the evidence of it to me and it soon started to make sense.  But still, what business is it of ours?  If he wanted it to be a secret, why can't it remain a secret?

            "What do we have to do with any of this?" I asked.  She stayed silent for a moment and shrugged.  I sighed and left the small room.  "Don't worry about this.  Just get back to work so we can leave soon, okay?"

            A disappointed look appeared on her face and she nodded.  I looked at the papers in her hand.

            "And put those back.  Who knows what he would do if he knew you took them", I said.  She nodded again and left quickly, dropping one of the papers in the process.  I noticed and picked it up.  I glanced slightly at it and the word "Jenova" stuck in my mind for some odd reason.

            "Yuffie!  Wait, you dropped this", I yelled before she left.  She turned around and took the paper.  I noticed she just stood there looking at the ground.  At this rate, none of us will be out of there before sunrise I thought.  Why couldn't she just get back to work?

            "Shouldn't you be going?" I asked.  She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

            "I'm really scared", she whispered.  "Why can't you just understand how serious this can turn out to be?"

            Although I could've laughed at the thought of Yuffie caring about something serious, I felt a little worried.  She is usually running around the place with her endless energy and working hard to get money to buy more materia.  Even her pouting when she didn't get her way didn't look as hopeless as she did now.  A flash of lightning appeared outside the window.

            "Yuffie look, it'll be okay.  I'll talk to you more about this tomorrow.  But right now, I just want to get out of here."  She nodded again.

            "Thanks Vincent."  She smiled at me a little and left.

            I was alone in the biggest room in the castle once again.  I watched the flickering candles on the walls for a while and thought.  Tifa told me about what she and Cloud wanted to do.  They were going to tell Sephiroth that he couldn't make them get married.  Sephiroth was gone at the moment but he would be back soon.  He never told anyone about where he goes.  Strange guest, I thought.  But so what if he's a vampire?  He'll be gone soon.  He was only staying here to visit the King and Queen of Nibelheim.  I shrugged the thought off and remembered some of the vampire stories the children told back in the streets of Nibelheim long ago.  I laughed a little to myself.

            "He's not a vampire", I whispered.  "Vampires have powers.  Sephiroth is just freaky looking."  I laughed again and went back to cleaning up.  I smiled as I thought more.

            "I hope Aeris doesn't beat the hell out of me for being so late.  She would never forgive me if I made her worried.  Oh well."  I finished cleaning and sat down for a while.  I heard a faint noise coming from somewhere in the castle.  And then a scream.  I froze and continued to listen.  The scream sounded a lot like Tifa's voice.  I got up and ran in the direction of the sound.

            I entered a hallway and I saw Tifa running towards me.  She tripped right in front of me and I caught her.  She was crying and there was blood on the front of her dress.

            "He has Cloud!" she cried.  I looked up and Sephiroth was standing at the other end of the hallway.  She noticed and stood up straight again.  He smiled and as if he said something only she could hear, she started crying again and ran out of the hallway.  He looked at me in my confused state.

            "So you are the one she has feelings for", he said to me.  I just stood there, not believing anything that just happened.  He started walking towards me and talked again.  "And do you have feelings for her too?"  I stayed silent.

            He stopped right in front of me and his eyes flashed.  My head began to hurt and I fell down.  The pain got worse and I held my head in my hands.

            "I'll never let my daughter fall in love with a mere servant!" he yelled.  Just as he yelled, I heard a small cry coming from behind Sephiroth.  I looked up and I saw Yuffie with a dagger in her hand.

            "What are you doing to Vincent?!" she screamed.  He released his power on me and turned to her.  She ran at him and stabbed him with the dagger and jumped back to lean against the wall.  He laughed.

            "You think you can kill me with a normal weapon?" he asked calmly.  She gasped.

            "It is true!  I know all your little secrets Sephiroth! You'll never find the Daylight Moon!"  My confusion continued as she talked.  But I recognized some words from Sephiroth's papers.  I tried to tell Yuffie to shut up and run, but I was too weak to do anything.

            Sephiroth suddenly ripped the dagger out of his chest and stabbed Yuffie.  She fell down next to me and she started coughing up blood.  The wound from the small blade made her lose even more blood and I knew she could never survive this.  Sephiroth stood over us laughing to himself again.  Yuffie's dying coughs echoed through the hallway and I felt myself getting weaker.  I looked over at her and I saw her close her eyes for the last time just as I blacked out.

~*~

Hmm…a little violent this time.  Oh well.  Let's see how the next chapter will turn out.