"Nnngh..." Tifa's neck felt sore and stiff, and her head felt so very light. She blinked a few times, the room lit with a soft yellowish light. She squeezed her eyes closed in a bid to remember what happened last night and why she was in a stranger's bed, and after several minutes of searching her fuzzy head everything flowed together. Her hand went to her tender neck, the two wounds stinging at her touch as she grazed her throat with her fingers. He bit her!
Very slowly she sat up in the bed, holding her sides as she let the memories settle in her mind. She felt uneasy. 'I should have waited until sunrise...' Still, she couldn't trust a vampire, she had to get out of there before he did anything to her. Or, that had been her plan, to just run away in her panic induced state. It was for naught, she was completely at his mercy now with her blood drained from her body by that fiend masquerading in her friend's body.
Tifa glanced at the nightstand next to her and noticed there were a few things collected on the top; a flashlight, a glass of water, a small plate of covered and cooked burger patties, her necklace and a letter. She slowly took the letter after donning her necklace again and opened it up with clumsy fingers, thankful it wasn't sealed. Her eyes scanned the paper's message from her keeper.
Tifa,
I left you a glass of water, and some food too. It's safe to eat, and the water isn't contaminated. I didn't want to do that, Tifa. I told you I want to help you, not kill you...You're important to me.
Anyway, the bathroom is on your left, and the flashlight on the nightstand should work. Don't try escaping again, the door wouldn't open for you anyway. Were you that desperate to get away from me that you forgot how vampire lairs work? I'll see you at sunset.
Cloud
P.S. I'll bring you some more food when I get up, and play nice with Squeak. He won't bite.
"Squeak...?" she mumbled under her breath. Tifa read the note over several times, her eyes always straying to "You're important to me". How so, she wondered. Help, not kill, what was his true motive? Was this just a sick game to make her bring down her guard, only to do unspeakable things to her? 'He bit me. He bit me. He bit me.' That thought was more painful than her healing wounds; if it wasn't him it still looked like him all the same.
Tifa took a deep breath. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been out, the window predictably boarded up when she weakly moved a curtain away as she leaned towards the wall bordering her bed. She glanced at the nightstand and regarded the glass of water; she was parched but still wary. The vampire very well could have put something into her drink or food, a vile potion or even a few drops of his ichor despite his note's promise. She sighed heavily and stared at the door to the room, intimidating in the low light. It was cracked open slightly, as if to allow any nightmarish creatures that roamed the vampire's den free entry.
She wondered what she could do in her current situation, a bedridden prisoner to a vampire. She was too weak and unprepared to walk into his room and finish him off, and there were an unknown number of servants possibly roaming his house; she could hear occasional scratching nearby, and wondered if that was possibly one of them. Whatever it was, it was close. She tensed instinctively, staring at the dark opening.
The door moved slightly, as if bumped by something, and she heard scurrying in her room. With trepidation Tifa moved her head to get a closer look and her skin crawled at the sight of a large, fat rat with black fur staring at her from near a dresser; it had a tail longer than its body trailing behind it, slightly curled. It squeaked several times at her, and she tossed the flashlight at it in disgust. The rat dodged her projectile and squeaked angrily at her as Tifa glowered in its direction. "Scram!"
More angry squeaks. Then it scuttled off.
Sighing, Tifa fell back onto the bed, her head spinning again after her short encounter with the rat. She tried to think of any plan to possibly escape, her mind too murky from blood loss to come up with anything worthwhile. In a short while she was back asleep, dreaming of horrible things that meshed the past and present together in vivid detail.
Tifa entered the abandoned mine that she accompanied Zangan to, right outside of a village near Nibelheim. Her master had a special relic to destroy the vampire's illusion over its lair, and the two made their way down the shaft, already working against the clock as sunset came closer and closer.
They had run into the vampire's forest servants, slaying several hostile animals and taking up precious time that could have been spent finding this lonesome lair. The blood of beasts was splattered on the vampire hunters, and Tifa tried to rub some off her arm as they went deeper into this dark den of evil. The smell of blood and rot grew in the air, a heavy and pungent stench that burned her nose.
The master and student checked this room and that room, finding one that was sealed near the end of the small mine; Zangan kicked the rickety door several times before it gave way to his strength. He dashed in only to fall to his knees with a shout as blood came weeping out of a wound in his chest, Tifa gasping his name as he struggled to stay upright. A sinister laugh echoed through the gloomy and poorly lit chamber and she looked up, eyes widening.
"Tifa..." The vampire purred. Blonde hair splayed into multiple spikes, black clothing with a collar that grazed his cheeks, and smoldering blue eyes tinged with red from the glow of torches on the walls. His ashy skin had shadows dance and flit upon its dead surface.
The woman shook her head as she took a fighting stance. "You aren't Cloud."
The spiky haired vampire that lounged on the chair in front of her grinned, lips and taloned fingers splattered with blood. There were several corpses laying about his wooden throne, his boot on top of the rotting torso of a missing villager. "It's me, Tifa. Don't you remember all the fun we had when we were kids?" He shoved the corpse away with his foot, the disfigured face of the villager staring at her despite the eyes missing from the nibbling of scavengers.
"It wasn't with you."
"Remember the summer nights when we chased fireflies?"
"It wasn't with you." she said louder.
"What about the time we watched the firework celebration before I left?"
"It wasn't with you!" her voice wavered with anger and despair.
The undead aberration raised up from the chair and stood upon the unrefined floor of the mine shaft, still grinning and blue eyes burning with malevolence. In a deliberately slow fashion he licked the blood off of a finger before continuing his verbal torture of the young woman. "Of course it was with me. Who else would it have been with?" He came closer as he licked his lips of blood. "Come. Give your old friend a hug..."
Tifa went to strike but was sent flying into a wall with the flick of her opponent's hand, the rocky surface grinding into her scalp. The vampire was upon her in an instant, his smirking lips over her neck and his body flush on hers; her instincts attempted to recoil, to retreat, but there was no where to go. His blonde spikes hurt her face, and his body shook with a chuckle as he pressed harder onto her.
"Tifa..." The voice was different now, some nightmarish amalgamation of her childhood friend and what she would think a demon sounded like. "We can have fun together again. Wouldn't you like that, Tifa?" His talons trailed her exposed cheek, threatening to draw blood at any moment the monster chose.
"No!" She struggled harder against the thing holding her against the stones. The fiend licked her throat, and she cringed at the cold, wet sensation on her skin. The scent of blood flooded her nostrils, almost making her gag.
"I promise I'll share Zangan with you after you become like me, Tifa." Fangs pinched her skin, the jaw tight on her throat. She screamed, but everything seemed to freeze as he bit down on her.
"Tifa?" Her eyes looked about wildly for the source of the voice.
"Tifa!"
She jumped and gasped in bed, two hands holding her shoulders. Her breathing was quick and mind delirious, she tried to fight back with limp hands; they pressed weakly against a chest as she squeaked out a protesting moan. Tifa slapped something soft and cool to the touch, earning a soft grunt from her opponent.
"Hey. You were having a bad dream..."
Tifa opened her eyes, those same blue eyes that seared their way into her soul in her nightmare were staring at her with a quiet concern. Her head swam, and she groaned as she looked away, squinting her eyes shut as a pain pulsed in her forehead. Tifa felt her shoulders being lifted and something cold and smooth held to her lips. "You need to drink some water, Tifa."
She refused the offered glass, shrugging her mouth away. "I don't know what you did to it..." her voice was weak and scratchy.
"It's just tap water." he pleaded. After she made it clear she wouldn't drink from the offered glass she felt herself being lifted up; she opened her eyes to the spiky haired vampire moving her out of the room and down the dark stairs.
"What are you doing...?" She inquired with a suspicious tone. The vampire's arms held her firmly as he traveled into the kitchen, using his elbow to flick on a light. He took her to a cabinet, and as he balanced Tifa in his arms he opened it up and retrieved a glass, then filled it with water from the sink's tap. Finished, he placed it on the counter.
"Can you pick it up?" He asked in a gentle voice.
After a few reluctant moments Tifa took the glass from the counter and held it, and then the vampire moved her into the living room to let her rest on one of the couches. She pursed her dry lips as she stared at the water in the little light cast by the kitchen light; her thirst overrode her paranoia and she sipped from the glass. Her captor must have been satisfied with her actions, because the next moment he disappeared into the kitchen again after turning on a light in the living room.
Getting a clearer view of the living room as she sipped her water she noticed a vase of flowers on the table that rested between the two couches, and a book sitting next to it. The white and yellow flowers were eerily familiar, and Tifa tried to remember where she saw them before. Tifa's mind became clearer as she drank, as if it were a magical potion that was healing her. She mulled over her failed escape last night and her nightmare, the images so similar to her first encounter with the undead. Except it wasn't Cloud's visage in that mine, and she wasn't physically violated that night. Her hand came up to her neck, and she gingerly touched the bite marks.
No, she was violated last night. 'That's not my Cloud in there.'
Tifa heard the scrape of a pot and the scent of food, making her glance towards the kitchen. 'He said he'd bring me food in the note...' She shifted uncomfortably on the couch and again glanced around, eyeing the rat that had appeared on the other couch and was staring back at her with what appeared to be a frown. Tifa wanted to toss her empty glass at the vermin but hesitated after raising it, it felt like that would be a particularly rude thing to do...
"You really shouldn't throw things at Squeak." The vampire had reentered the living room with a bowl in one hand, and Tifa finally noticed he wasn't wearing the clothing from last night; it was simple night clothing, a white shirt and black pajama bottoms. It was a stark contrast to the nightmare that bit her both last night and in her dream, his face such a familiar thing in good and bad ways; she looked away and took a deep breath. He kneeled in front of her as she laid on the couch and stirred the contents of the bowl, then offered a spoonful. She stared at what she assumed was some sort of chili and then looked back at him. He frowned.
"It's not spicy, if you're worried about that."
She shook her head. "What do you want from me?"
The spoon lowered slightly towards the bowl as the vampire sighed. "I already told you last night."
Tifa put her hand over her injury again as her eyes looked down at the bowl. When she looked up, her captor held an uncomfortable look on his face. "You want to help me. That's what you said." She took in a deep breath before continuing. "I don't understand this. You kidnap me and bind me in rope, you won't let me leave. Then you..."
"Would you rather be a ghoul right now, gnawing on your master's gifts? Maybe you should be a little more reasonable, Tifa." He brought the spoon up again, his eyes hard. "Eat. We can talk after you're finished." The vampire noticed the suspicious look on her face and he rolled his eyes. "I didn't do anything to it. If I wanted to do something to you I would have done it already, you're an absolute handful as it is."
'This isn't Cloud.'
She thought a moment, whether it was reasoning or her will weakening from hunger and blood loss she took a bite from the offered spoon. Her captor was mollified, and she eventually took the bowl and ate by her own effort rather than his. After a minute he returned with a fresh glass of water, replacing the one she had drank. He looked down at her, examining her. She tried to ignore his gaze.
"Do you need a blanket?"
She nodded after a moment. She was cold, even with a jacket covering her.
'This isn't Cloud.'
The vampire disappeared and reappeared a minute later, laying a blanket over her after she had placed the empty bowl on the table. He took it, and returned after depositing it in the kitchen; he sat on the other couch, rubbing the rat's cheek with a finger. She cringed and he glanced at her with a raised brow, snorting. "This is Squeak, my servant. Please don't attack him again, he's not going to hurt you." A few soft squeaks came from the rodent.
Tifa sat herself up and took a sip of her water, not making eye contact. "So, what are your plans for me?" It was best to find out what he was up to. She wrapped the blanket about her shoulders.
She glanced up at him, the vampire sitting an elbow on his knee and perching his chin on his hand. "I was gonna go to Nibelheim to visit you and Ma one last time. I guess I'll take you with me, and then you can forget about everything. You'll be safe from vampires, safe from the assassin's guild that I'm a part of, and you can go about with your life like I didn't exist." He paused, looking away, then looked back at her, his eyes searching hers. "I haven't heard from Ma in a year, so I'm kinda worried about her, too."
'This isn't Cloud.'
"Worried..." Tifa looked down, biting her lip. This can't be Cloud. It has to be something mimicking him, another being and his soul is trapped until the body is destroyed. Cloud wouldn't do the things she had seen. "You're worried." she whispered.
"Wouldn't you be?"
'This isn't Cloud.'
Tifa looked back up and sucked in a lungful of air. "Before I left for Midgar, Ms. Strife's house caught fire in the night," She studied his reaction, the widened eyes and stunned face. "and she didn't make it." Her own face was tired and despondent, but nothing compared to the look on his. He slumped onto the couch and stared down at the vase of flowers, his hands clenching the fabric of the couch.
'This isn't Cloud.'
"Ma..." His voice wavered and he rubbed his forehead.
'This isn't Cloud.'
"The villagers tried their best to put out the flames, but it was too late." She murmured.
The vampire nodded and swallowed hard, rubbing his scalp with a hand. The living room was quiet, Tifa repeating her mantra in her head. It's not Cloud. It's not Cloud. It's not Cloud. She wrung her hands as the minutes wore on, frustrated. After what could have been a half hour the vampire spoke again after a heavy sigh. "I still need to take you back, even if there's no one worthwhile to visit anymore."
"I'm not going back there."
"Why not?" He looked at her with a perplexed expression on his face.
She tensed her jaw a moment, and shook her head. "There's nothing there for me but old memories, and...what could I do there?"
The vampire shrugged. "Be a guard, maybe? You were always really strong."
'This isn't Cloud.'
"I don't want that. Being ogled by the men that stayed behind as I guard them..." Tifa already felt that predatory gaze from several of the young men before she left Nibelheim. Between that and her father pressuring her to marry already, it drove her insane. Her personal quest was in comparison a breath of fresh air, full of danger and freedom.
The vampire groaned. "Okay, okay...so you don't wanna go back to Nibelheim." He was rubbing his chin in thought, mumbling to himself. "Can't let her go, don't want her stuck in the house..."
"Why can't you just let me go..."
He glanced back at her. "Because you're gonna be on the top of the list of persons to kill, and I don't want you coming here with your friends tryin' to kill me." He looked away. "You're free to stay here, but I'm sure you'll eventually want some fresh air and sunlight."
She sipped her water, holding the glass tight. "I'm stuck here? All because there might be a vampire looking to kill me? I could just hide in the cathedral."
"You don't think there are human assassins? Because your cathedral doesn't stop them."
Tifa bit her lip; she truly hadn't thought of them. "I don't wanna be stuck here for the rest of my life." She said quietly.
"Just worry about getting your strength back for now, Tifa. It's not like I'm gonna kick you out."
'This isn't Cloud.'
"I'll keep you safe, I promise."
'This isn't Cloud.'
She put her drink down and rubbed her face, sniffling. "The same vampire that bit me is gonna protect me." she said incredulously. Her mind continually flashed to that, even if there was good reason to do it; she was dangerous and they both knew it. Why he hadn't drained her in the first place boggled her mind, because then...
"You didn't leave me with much choice last night. I saved you and you treated me like a stranger that wants to hurt you." Tifa looked back at him, his arms crossed and his eyes looking towards the floor. "We were really close. I thought you'd realize I wouldn't try and kill you." his voice was almost a whisper, tinged with hurt. "But you were the one that was here to kill me." The vampire licked his lips, his face dejected. "I'm still keeping my word, though."
'This isn't Cloud. This isn't Cloud. This can't be Cloud.'
"What did Zangan teach you that you would think that of me?" He lifted his eyes to search hers.
Tifa shook her head. "Cl...I've seen a lot in five years. Vampires doing horrible things...mutilated bodies, torture, dark magic that terrorized villagers..." She looked back at him. "You drink blood."
He looked down again. "It's not like I wanted this to happen, you know." The vampire shifted on the couch, his face tense. "I do kill for blood, but I don't have much of a choice in the matter. I take from my marks and I usually do it quick." He shrugged. "If there was another way of going about getting blood I'd love to hear it, but until then I don't have a choice if I want to exist or not go insane from cravings first."
She looked around. His place was old but not like the lairs she had been in, she had to admit. There was no reveling in death here, just quiet respite from the world. 'This can't be Cloud.' She refused to believe it, Zangan couldn't be wrong about this. As she thought, the vampire came back up to her and picked her up, taking her up the stairs again, the blanket trailing behind them.
"Corrupted souls...I don't know. Cursed might be a better description." he said as he went up the stairs. "All these powers, and we have to kill to 'live', and we can't ever see the sun again."
'This can't be Cloud.'
He placed her on the bed, tucking her in again. "You still need to rest. I need to go out for a little bit, but if you need anything, ask Squeak. I'm sure we'll talk again before the night is done." He gave her a sad smile, causing her breath to stop a moment.
'He can't be Cloud.'
"Is this just because of your promise?" she asked with a curious tone. Tifa's hands squeezed the mattress sheet under her, tense from dread anticipation.
The vampire paused, staring into her ruby eyes with a serious expression. "No. You're my friend, Tifa. You were my only friend in Nibelheim. You don't think that's worth something to me?" He rubbed her cheek, turned off the lamp and before she could respond he left the room.
'You're important to me.' Tifa swallowed hard and turned to bury her face into her pillow, her eyes burning and chest quivering. 'You were my only friend in Nibelheim. You're important to me.' It made sense if that vampire was Cloud. She shook her head as she sniffled. 'He can't be Cloud. He just can't be. It's supposed to be something else, not him!' Her tears soaked into the pillowcase as she tried to deny everything, and inside Tifa's chest her heart squeezed as tightly as her grip on the pillow her head rested on.
'Please...no.' She fell asleep after staining her pillow with countless tears, her breaths quivering into the pillow as reality came crashing down on her drained body. She grieved in the darkness, damning the fates for everything that happened.