Hello, all! Here's part five of this lovely story. And we're just getting to the action! Actually, we won't see it for a chapter or two. This one is basically here to explain what all the vampires can do, which is a lot. I mean, they are mythical creatures of the night, why not have excessive super powers? Oh, and I went with the Twilight kind of vampires. You know, the vegetarian kind. Anyway, please enjoy.

Also, I finished Wrong Number. It's a short RikuSora story. Give it a read if you're bored. Only three chapters.

..Irrevocable...

Impossible to be retracted or recalled; unable to be repealed or annulled; unchangeable; irreversible; unalterable; as an irrevocable fate...

...Chapter 5: Speak...

Sora and Roxas took the news of Vincent's homecoming rather well.

I had kept the story short. I left out the bit about the firsts dying, and Genesis. I focused mainly on what Vincent had become. I tried to make my story as believable as possible. Though as the words fell from my lips, I could hear how ridiculous the whole situation sounded.

When I finished, I looked to my two-person audience and waited for their response. They didn't move. They didn't speak. Did they even believe me?

Roxas was the first to speak, "I told you there was something wrong with those two."

I laughed and turned my attention to Sora. His face held no expression. He was simply blinking at me.

"Wait, so Vincent's upstairs?" his words were skeptical.

"Mmhmm," I nodded and took a step closer to Sora.

"Then why are we down here?" Sora's eyes instantly filled with joy as he jumped from the couch and raced up the stairs. I held an arm out hopelessly trying to catch my brother.

"Well, time to go say 'hi' to Vincent," I shook my head. "Come on, Roxas. I'm sure this isn't something you'll want to miss."

Roxas andI took our time climbing the stairs. By the time we got to Vincent and I's room, Sora was bouncing by the door.

"Come on, Cloud! I want to see Vincent!" Sora whined.

I walked to my brother and ruffled his hair. "You know, for a 20-year-old, you sure do act like you're 15."

Sora scowled at me and pointed to the door.

I laughed at my brother and opened the door. Riku, Axel and Vincent sat on the bed. There was no emotion in their faces. I walked through the door and motioned for my cousin and brother to follow. I turned and looked skeptically at Sora's face. Before I could make out Sora's features, he was rushing to the bed, tackling Vincent in the process.

"Vincent! Cloud wasn't lying," Sora nuzzled his face into my fiance's chest. Vincent wrapped his arms around my brother.

"Good to be home," he said while looking up to me.

I smiled. It had been so long since I found something worthy of a smile, but seeing my brother happy for the first time in years was good enough for me. I took a seat on the now crowded bed next to Vincent. Sora was now sitting on Vincent's other side, a little too close to Riku than I would have liked. Roxas managed to pile onto the bed as well and we all sat in a happy silence for a few seconds until I could remember just why we were sitting here in the first place.

"So, what did Reno have to say?" I asked to whoever knew the answer.

Riku looked to Vincent wearily. Vincent nodded and Riku turned to me. "He was able to delete the files necessary for the tracking device, but Sephiroth is now on the search for you since you didn't show up to training tonight. Oh, and Lazard somehow saw Axel, or someone who looks like Axel, and now thinks we're all alive and wants to kill us."

"Oh, that's all," I muttered.

"There's more," Vincent said as he wrapped an arm around my chest. I shivered at the touch of his cold skin against my own. This would take a while to get used to. He looked me in the eyes, "They want to find you."

I nodded, "Riku said Sephiroth is looking for me. I've dealt with him before."

"No," it was Axel who spoke this time. "Lazard and his crew. They need you and will stop at nothing to find you."

"What...," I blinked and let my mouth fall open. "That doesn't make sense. I'm not anything special."

"But you are, Cloud. And they need you," Riku said in his polite, fluid voice.

I looked at all of them. They had superhuman strength, unbelievable good looks and immortality. "What could you need from someone like me?" I shook my head in disbelief.

Axel opened his mouth to speak but Vincent shot the redhead a glare. "No need worrying Cloud right now. He's been through enough," Vincent's words were harsh and cut through the tension. He turned to me. "Don't worry about it. Not right now. Trust me."

I nodded. It was all I could do. I trusted Vincent with my life, my soul.

"Just be happy Vincent's home," Sora said. I forgot Sora and Roxas were in the room for a few minutes. I immediately smiled at my brother and shifted my attention to Roxas. He was leaning his head on Axel's shoulder. My cousin looked exhausted. I thought he didn't like Axel? I chuckled. Things could be worse, I thought.

"Reno says we need to leave, now," Riku was already standing with Sora by his side. They were holding hands. I hoped the reason was so Riku could bring Sora to his feet easier, but the dreamy-eyed look on Sora's face made me think otherwise.

Vincent closed his eyes for a second. His expression went blank. "Yes. Now," he nodded in agreement.

Before I could interject, we were all moving down the stairs and out the door. Vincent hurried me into the middle row in the SUV, while Axel and Roxas went up front and Riku and Sora went in the back. I felt uneasy not being able to see my brother and Riku. I shook my head. There were more pressing matters at hand.

"How are you talking with Reno?" It made no sense to me. None of them carried cell phones and yet they had heard from Reno.

"Easy," Axel turned his head from the road for a moment to look at me. "We can hear each other."

"Through thoughts?" Sora questioned from the back seat. "So, you guys can read each other's minds?"

"Not exactly, Sora," Vincent's hand was playing with one of my soft spikes as he spoke. "When we want to, we can communicate through thoughts, but the thoughts have to be directed at one of us. So, in other words, we can't read each other's thoughts unless we consent to doing so."

"Makes sense," Roxas mumbled from the front seat. "You guys can live forever, be beautiful and kick ass. Why not add in a little telepathy for kicks?" Envy was radiating in his voice.

"There are downsides to all this," Vincent said, now holding me to his chest. "With great power come great downfalls."

"Enlighten me," Roxas muttered under his breath.

I could see Vincent open his mouth to speak. I didn't want to hear the downside. Not right now. Ignorance was bliss, right? "Enough, Roxas," my voice was stern. "Where in the hell are we going?"

"To get back up," Axel turned to flash a grin.

"Just rest, Cloud," Vincent whispered into my ear. "Sora and Roxas will be safe. It's going to be a long ride and an even longer next couple of days. You need your rest." Vincent turned his attention to glare in silence at the driver's seat.

Just then, the radio turned on. It wasn't loud, just enough noise to drown out Vincent's voice from everyone else's ears but my own.

"I don't want to sleep," I whispered back. "You just returned. I don't want to miss anything."

"I'm not going anywhere," his lips kissed my cheeks and forehead. "I already promised you that. Besides, we need you to be strong. So rest, please, for me?"

"Fine," I gave in, closing my eyes. They felt heavier than before. I felt Vincent's lips brush against my own and then I was asleep. The first real sleep in two years.

When my eyes finally opened it, I could see the sun appearing over the horizon. I tried to stretch but realized Vincent was still attached to me, and awake for that matter.

Vincent's hand cupped my cheek. He brought my face in and kissed my lips quickly. "Good morning."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked quietly, not sure who was still sleeping.

"Five or six hours," he said as I tried to move to a sitting position.

"Did you sleep at all?" Vincent appeared to be in the same position as he was when I fell asleep.

Vincent chuckled. "There's still so much you don't know," his arms pulled me to his chest. "No, Cloud, we don't sleep."

"'Course not," I yawned. Nothing Vincent said at this point could phase me, I'd heard it all. "How much longer?"

"About an hour or two."

The sleep had done me well. I finally was able to put my head around my current situation. Vincent, Riku, Axel and Reno were vampires. Vincent was the youngest and until recently very violent. I was now on a long trip to an unknown destination to get back up. There were only a few things that didn't add up.

"Hey, should I call Sephiroth? Let him know where I am?" That was the first of two problems. Sephiroth had always been on my ass about work. He probably wouldn't let up the search for me easily.

"What would you tell him that could possibly explain you, Sora, Roxas and Reno disappearing?" Vincent cocked an eyebrow, waiting for a response.

"Well," I paused to think. "I could tell him that my grandma's sick so I took the family to go see her. She lives across the country in a small town so I doubt he would look her up. As for Reno..."

"He came with you and you're training him from there?" Vincent suggested.

"It is feasible. I don't know if Sephiroth will buy it, but it's better than nothing," I sighed and took out my cell phone. I calmed my nerves and produced the biggest sob story I could think of. I made sure to remind him of my parents' deaths and how I had my brother with me. After a few minutes I closed the phone. "Well, I don't know how well he bought it, but we at least have a few days before he's going to do anything, I think."

Vincent nodded and pulled me into his lap. "You should rest some more. It's going to be a long couple of days."

"Nope," I turned my head in his lap so I could look at his face. "I have another question." I looked to Vincent. He nodded. "If Reno was part of the experiment, how is working there now?"

"I thought you would catch that," Vincent's hands played with my hair. "Reno's different from the rest of us. He's older and is actually pretty intelligent."

"How so?" I pictured the reno from the previous night flirting with everything in sight, not a scholar.

Vincent took a deep breath in. It made me wonder if he really needed to breathe. "Well, he is smart. He figured out that certain materials and substances affect the detectors. The clothing he wears is made of a special cloth that hides his identity. Also, the cologne we all wear messes with the signals. But, really, there's more than that. Reno can manipulate people's memories."

"What?" I blinked.

"Another experiment," Vincent sighed. "Only two people were involved. Reno and a girl named Namine. She lives with us, as well."

"So, I was partnered with a guy who could change what I remembered?" I stopped speaking and ran through my memories. Nothing seemed off but how was I supposed to know?

"He doesn't do it that often, just when it's necessary. And he can always put the memories back in place later on," Vincent explained. "Reno's a good guy. We're lucky to have him."

I looked at Vincent's face. I could see he admired Reno. I traced my few memories of the redhead. He didn't seem like much to admire to me, but I could trust Vincent's judge in character. But me being me, I saw another crack in Vincent's explanation. "So why can't Reno just erase the memories of Lazard and the others who are after you guys?"

"Well, he could change Lazard's memories since he's met Lazard, but Reno hasn't met everyone who knows about us. We don't even know who all knows. It would raise suspicions if Reno changed a few people's memories and then others still remembered us."

Vincent's explanation made sense. Everything he had told me in the past 24 hours made sense. I didn't understand how. How could vampires, mind readers and memory changers logically make sense to me? Then again, there was a lot to Shinra I didn't understand. I was only a part of SOLDIER, the research half of the company was still a myth to me.

We sat in silence for a while and I was lost in my own thoughts. Had I worked for Shinra for upward of six years and not known anything? I knew there was more to the company, but I didn't know it involved ruining lives and changing genetic makeup. I shuddered. If they were capable of creating people who changed memories, what else were the scientists at Shinra capable of?

Before I could create any real theories, I felt the speed of at which we were traveling decrease. Vincent let me sit up and I looked through the tinted windows. I had seen this forest before, but there was no logical way we could have traveled this far in six or seven short hours. I swung my upper body from left to right, trying to crack my back, when I got a look at the speedometer.

"Holy shit! Ninety miles an hour?! And that's with us slowing down?!" I gasped. That could explain how we got to the forest surrounding Luca so quickly. "How fast were we going? We could have wrecked and died." Panic was filling my voice.

"You were safe," I deciphered the voice as Riku's. He spoke with a level tone. "Really, Cloud, you're in a car full of vampires and obsessing over how fast we're going?"

I scratched my head out of confusion. My worries were in the wrong place, weren't they? I shook my head. "I trust you guys, I think. But I don't trust Axel's driving."

"Cloud," one of Vincent's arms wrapped protectively around my shoulder. "There is no reason to worry. Axel's been driving since cars were invented. You'll be fine."

"Yeah," Axel turned from the road. A new wave of apprehension swam over me. "Nothing to worry about."

"I would prefer if you would turn around," I said through gritted teeth. Axel did turn around and I leaned back and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "So, we're going to Luca, then?"

"Yes. That's where a large number of us hide out. Where I've lived for the past two years," Vincent explained.

"But, I was supposed to come here on a mission in a week," I shook my head with disbelief. "They were only sending first, something about and uprising and oh!" something finally clicked in the back of my head. "The vampires were the uprising."

Vincent nodded. "We've been planning on destroying Shinra for years. Since before Reno, Axel and Riku were taken. But, it appears they've caught on to our headquarters ahead of schedule."

Just then I felt the car turn a hard left, the opposite direction of Luca. I scanned my memory trying to figure out where we were heading to, but I couldn't remember any establishments west of the small city. "If you live in Luca, then why are we heading the opposite direction?"

"I told you," Axel spoke from the driver's seat once more. "We need back up."

Still not understanding, I continued to look out the window. The sun was fully above the horizon now. I could see the trees passing by the window and the occasional small house mixed in. I calculated in my head how far Luca was from back home. About a day or so's drive and a few days' hike. For the past two years, Vincent had been about a three-days' journey from my house. I grimaced. He was so close to me this whole time.

"Something wrong, Cloud?" Vincent's velvet voice asked.

I then noticed that Vincent hadn't taken his breathtaking red eyes off of me as I made this realization. "Just trying to accept the fact that you were so close to me this whole time, that's all."

"Cloud," Vincent began kissing my cheek and trailed his kisses to my neck. "Even though I was physically close to you, mentally, I was light years away."

"You keep saying it was for the best, you not seeing me, butt I would like to know how me becoming a recluse and hurting for two years was worth it. Even if you were dangerous, I think I would have been able to take care of myself," I knew I was rambling. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I didn't care at that point.

"When we're first bitten, we're dangerous," Vincent's voice turned from tender to informative. "We only think about blood, and how we're going to get it. Nothing else matters. We kill. We steal. We're the very opposite of human."

"Still, I could have just seen you. It's all I needed. Just to know you were alive somewhere."

"No, you couldn't have," Vincent's voice was stern. I could sense anger building up. I backed off toward the other side of the car a little. "Cloud, please understand me when I say that I would have killed you, not because I didn't love you, but because I wasn't me. I was a blood-thirsty creature who needed to be restrained for my own good. I had Reno find you the moment I felt safe enough to hold you in my arms again."

"So, you're okay now?" I wondered, inching back into his arms.

"In a manner of speaking, yes," his arms pulled me the rest of the way until our bodies were touching again. "I am always thirsty, but I can restrain myself, especially if it means I get to hold you again."

"That's good, then, because now that I have you back, I don't think I'm ever going to let go," I smiled, looking into his eyes. They were a shade darker than last night. Still a beautiful red, but a tad more toward maroon.

He chuckled as I continued my inspection. "Everyday I go without drinking they get darker. When they turn black I'm the most lethal. But don't worry, we're hunting tomorrow."

"Hunting?" the word sounded so primitive. Is that what they called drinking humans' blood? I never stopped to think about that part of Vincent's new existence. I could feel my skin begin to crawl.

"Yes. Hunting. It's exactly as it sounds," Vincent paused to look in my eyes. "Those of us who live in Luca and its outskirts don't drink the blood of humans. We hunt animals instead. There are about one hundred and fifty with our similar eating habits that we know about."

I let out a sigh. "Well, that will help me sleep at night. I had worried you were going around killing people at random."

"No, no, no, Cloud," he kissed my hair. "There is nothing random about our killing."

Before I could catch the meaning behind Vincent's words, Axel's voice filled the car.

"Okay, everyone, time to wake up," he poked Roxas's shoulder. "We're here."

I looked out the window and was taken back by a large white mansion. Why was such an excessive built in the middle of the forest? Just then, Vincent was ushering me out of the car. I looked around. I was positive the sun was out, but the dense forest that surrounded us was trying to convince me otherwise. I stumbled out of the car and into Vincent's arms. He held me to his chest and smiled.

"Hello,guests," an unfamiliar voice greeted from behind me. I turned to see a man dressed in all white. "My name is Rufus. Welcome to my home."