Shadows Of A Lonely Man Chapter 6 - The Loss Of One

A shot rang out in the air and a cloud of crimson erupted from the creatures two heads, it then fell to the floor lifelss before Vincents feet. He spun around and there stood Edward with a small smile on his face.

"You should be more careful Mr. Valentine" he laughed

Vincent blinked a few times before he came to his senses and realised what had happened. He then smiled and nodded to Edward who of course was right, the cliffs and hills around nibelhiem were famous for their monsters yet Vincent had not taken his gun.

"Yes, youre right Edward" he admitted

He looked down at the monster and the pool of red liquid forming around its two heads, he kicked it with his foot and then turned and started walking to Edward. He smiled again and when Edward took out Vincents holster and gun thanked him as he took it and put it on. He walked past Edward and started back towards the village, Edward followed him and started walking by his side looking around. The cliffs seemed very chilling to the man, why anyone would want to walk around out here was beyong him. He continued to walk in silence regarding his surroundings but the silence to him was unbearable.

"Perhaps.." He thought "Vincent just wanted some time to himself"

He wasn't sure why he asked it, he had near enough worked it out in his head maybe he just wanted to be sure but finally he asked his friend anyway.

"What possessed you to come out here Vincent?" he asked finally

"Dunno.." Vincent answered "I just wanted to think to myself and by the time I realised were I was I was out here.."

Nodding the two continued walking and it wasn't long before they entered Nibelhiem and headed for the hotel. As they entered the hotel a loud explosion rang out through the village and when they turned around the mansion was ablaze smoke billowing from the upstairs windows. Without a second though Vincent took of towards the large house Edward shouting after him to wait but his words did not reach Vincent. Cursing, Edward took off after him following him up the street as people came out of their houses to see what was happening. As they got to the large gate 3 people exited the mansion all dressed in black wearing masks to hide their faces. All three carried small machine guns and upon seeing the Turks instantly released a hail of fire. Jumping back the two dove behind two great pieces of wall that the gate was held onto and listened as the bullets slammed into the stone and richocheted all around. The two listened and when the gunfire stopped both jumped out and drew their guns releasing a barrage of their own fire at the unknown men and when they had finished dove back behind the walls but were now on opposite sides as they went past each other. The bullets they had released slammed into one of the men and he dropped with a scream and cloud of crimson blood, the other two men released another hail of machine gun fire. The machine gun fire once again stopped but the initial fire was not as long as it had been before, Vincent noticed this Edward didn't. He fired off one shot before the machine gun fire ripped him apart crimson blood splattering the wall then falling to the floor pain etched across his face his blue suit stained red. Knowing they had no more shots left Vincent darted out and fired off another barrage of shots hitting one more of the men who went limp as one of the bullets slammed into his forehead and he hit the floor. Darting back behind the wall he heard the mansion door open and then a scream, he peeked around the corner as he re-loaded his gun to find that the last remaining man had ahold of Lucrecia and was desperatly trying to reload his weapon. Without a thought Vincent darted from his position and ran towards the man and as he finished reloading his weapon aimed at the running Vincent. He squeezed the trigger but Vincent somehow was too fast and as he ran darted away from the gunfire and spun whipping out his gun and slamming its butt into the mans face causing him to spin and slam into the floor. Lucrecia looked stunned, all she could do was stand there and watch. Vincent following up pounced on the man like he was his prey and started slamming the gun into his face the mask he wore starting to look wet from the blood now gushing from under it. Picking him up by the collar Vincent then threw him against the wall, cocked the hammer of his gun and shot him between the eyes. He let out a small squeal and dropped to the floor a trail of red blood following him down the wall as he slid down it. He then turned and looked at Lucrecia who was still rooted to the spot, she looked at him as he started towards her and then stepped back. She managed to let out a small noise before she ran towards him and wrapped her arms around the turk. He blinked and looked down at her and she up at him, they stood there for what seemed like minutes and Vincent finally reached up and touched her face. Then as reality snapped him back he looked around at everything and then at the bodies, he pushed her behind him and raised the gun expecting them to leap alive again. He walked over to each of them examining them and pulling off their masks, all of the men were young, younger than Vincent yet he felt nothing. Turning back to Lucrecia he blinked and then noticed the body by the gate, Edward. He ran past her and to his partner laid on the floor in a pool of red his proud blue suit stained his gun strewn on the floor by him. Vincent dropped to his knees beside him and started shaking him, he tried to stop the bleeding and tried to resusitate him but to no avail. He sat there in the pool staining his own suit red as he tried to save his partner.

"Oh no." he said in a low voice. "WAKE UP!!!" he screamed in defeat

There was no answer.