Vincent stirred. Although his eyes were closed, he could tell that the world outside was brighter than it
should have been. He opened an eye, and was suddenly fully awake.
There was a girl, probably around 20, looking terrified and shining a flashlight in his face. As Vincent sat up,
the girl started and backed up a little, revealing her hand to show that she was holding what looked like a wooden stake.
Narrowing his eyes, Vincent examined the girl: she had reddish-brown hair which hung loosely over her shoulders, grey eyes
which where shining with fear, and she wore a trench coat over clothes that looked like they should be worn by some
SOLDIER junky instead of a young girl. And sitting lightly on her chest, sparkling dimly from the light from the flashlight, was an
intricately carved metal crucifix. She looked like she was equipped to kill vampires...although that notion seemed rather stupid.
"What do you want...?" Vincent muttered darkly, slowly standing up. The girl gasped quietly, and quickly responded.
"I...I was just wondering how anyone could be living down here."
"Or not living, obviously," Vincent motioned towards the stake clasped in the girl's hand. She looked confused for a
second, but then she laughed and put the stake somewhere under her coat.
"Yes, it may seem odd, but I hunt vampires for Shin-Ra. Vampire fangs are useful weapons, and I collect them for research.
It's funny that such a huge corporation concerns themselves with the surreal, but they do.... And since I know vampires exist,
I don't question my orders."
Vincent said nothing, but stepped out of his coffin, and discreetly reached under his cloak for his pistol. This girl was annoying,
and Shin-Ra could always be dealt with the same way: they only understood violence.
"My name's Mandy Crescent by the way, pleased to meet you!" the girl said very suddenly.
Vincent, caught off guard, almost forgot about his gun for a second.
"Vincent Valentine. I suppose you're still going to stake me," he said, not moving his hand from under his cloak.
"Oh, no. I thought you might be a vampire, with the coffin and all, but I don't doubt that you're human, now. I'll still
have to make sure, if I want to get paid for this mission, but it won't be much trouble, I promise."
"How do you know I'm not–"
"No dirt in the casket," she nodded towards it. "Vampires need to sleep in soil from their native land."
"And how did you find me?"
"The owner of this house did some wacky stuff down here, the Prez just wanted to make sure that it was all cleaned up, so he sent me."
"Ah."
"So shall we get on with it? I'm working overtime already, and I can tell that you don't want me around... Hey! I'll buy you coffee."
"....Thanks."
Mandy smiled and finally directed the flashlight away from Vincent's face, and towards the stairs that led to the main level of the
infamous Shin-Ra mansion. Vincent let his hand leave the pistol, and followed her down the corridor.
The girl ordered coffee for both of them, and sat across from Vincent at a table near the window of the quaint café. Despite its
plain weather-worn houses, she seemed to love looking around Nibelheim. Her eyes sparkled as they darted from the old well to the truck
to Cloud's house (not that she would know that), and she always seemed to be on the verge of laughing out loud. It was irritating.
She'll be disappointed when they finally clean up this place, Vincent thought to himself. Finally, she turned her attention back to him.
"I guess I'll start the tests now, if you don't mind."
Vincent shook his head in response.
Mandy dug through one of the many pockets that lined her trenchcoat, and pulled out a small mirror. She looked at it, then at Vincent,
and then at Vincent through the mirror. It all seemed very pointless, but she assured him that she was a professional.
Smiling, she then took out two small canteens of water and began pouring the contents of one into the other. Running water. It sounded
like the waterfall, and reminded Vincent of Lucrecia. He smiled in spite of himself. Mandy saw, though, and assuming that it was directed at her,
smiled back. She closed the canteens and put them away.
The next "test" could have been thought of by anyone, but the girl still went about it as if she were handling an armed bomb. She took out
a bulb of garlic from her bottomless coat, and gingerly peeled it and tore it open, unleashing the unmistakeable scent.
"Smell it," she said. "I know it's gross, but it's standard practice."
Of course it is, Vincent thought as he took the bulb and sniffed it, as if he wouldn't have already noticed the smell. He figured a vampire would
have been moaning in agony already, and Mandy would still have made it sniff the garlic.
"Last one," Mandy said after she returned from throwing the garlic into the trash. But she didn't sit down and dig into her coat again.
She just kept coming closer to Vincent until he found it hard to focus on her face, and he could feel her breath on his face. She held up that metal cross,
as if it were something akin to the Black Materia in importance. Suddenly, Vincent was overwhelmed with disgust towards her, towards her
feelings of self-importance and her going about as if vampires were very real, and a serious plague that she was sworn to wipe out.
Vincent pushed her away, and she, startled and obviously hurt, quietly paid the bill and left the café. The owner, who knew Vincent pretty well,
as well as his influence on women, was obviously bemused and gave him a thumbs-up before returning to washing mugs and plates.
Vincent finished his coffee and left the café.
When he returned to his precious coffin in the damp basement of the Shin-Ra mansion, once again alone, Vincent allowed his thoughts, as always,
to drift to Lucrecia. He did not notice the girl cowered in the shadows, clutching the wooden stake with tears in her eyes, until she stepped into the
moderate light that illuminated the centre of the room. Vincent halted, and glared at her.
"I don't understand it..." she said, very quietly. "You're obviously not a vampire, but your reaction to the cross tells me you must be
something else. A demon, maybe... or maybe you have demons inside you. Either way, it's my duty to kill you... I'm sorry, I really am.
I like you... I mean.... You know what I mean....." Mandy searched Vincent's face for any reaction, any release from the embarassment that she had just
subjected herself to. But there was nothing, just empty eyes and a cold expression that made her feel like she might die. She felt herself start to
cry, and she shook her head and rose the stake, preparing to strike.
But then Vincent did respond. He walked up to her, very close, and leaned forward as if to kiss her. Mandy felt herself blush, and looked up
towards Vincent. But he did not kiss her. He kept leaning, and Mandy just had time to see orange hairs among the black, a purple tinge in his skin, and a flash of oddly canine teeth
before she felt them on her neck. She just had time to whimper before they sank into her neck, tearing the soft flesh away. She felt her legs collapse, but Vincent
was still holding her up, and he kept biting her. He bit until the muscle and tendons were stripped away. He bit until all she could think of was pain. And he bit
until she had no hope, religious or otherwise, of surviving.
Vincent dropped the girl's limp body, barely alive, to the floor, and wiped her blood away from his mouth.
"That was an odd thing to do," he muttered to himself. Something inside him smiled from behind a mask.
"It's been a while since we've killed anyone creatively," it responded, and started laughing.
Its laughter was joined by a few other malevolent voices, all laughing in morbid harmony. Vincent tried to ignore them as he pushed Mandy's corpse into the hall,
onto a pile of skeletons from long ago, and retreated to his coffin. He lay down, and even as he drifted into sleep, he knew that the nightmares would visit him again that evening.
Owari
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Disclaimers: all characters, locations, etc. are property their respective owners.
Don't get mad it me!!! If you can't put up with the idea that the creatures in Vincent might make him do scary shit then maybe you should think twice about squealing over him, fangirls.
