A/N: So it's been a while, and I know you hate me for that.
Actually, I don't even have an excuse other than that... Well, I do have an excuse. You see, I've been living in a hole for five months, surviving on nothing but pebbles and my own sarcastic snorts. A meager existence, but existence nonetheless; especially since a self-aware alarm clock forced me into such a hiding. It knows everything and can see into my soul, so I had to get away from it.

Anyway, here's chapter two. If you haven't noticed, I dropped the rating down to T because I'm tired of the excessive cursing I was using... so enjoy my more child-appropriate version!

*Italics denote flashbacks

The bar was an easy place to lose oneself in, despite the fact that it was a tiny hole-in-the-wall and the clientele were all regulars who saw each others as drinking buddies, if not friends. It was because of this familiarity with each other that it was easy to get lost; everyone could tell who didn't want company that night. And Zack was definitely one of those people tonight.

"Cloud... what do I do?" Zack cried out uneven tones, slightly nervous. At this point, Zack's main concern was a discrepancy in payment. "Tell me you didn't tell the Turks that I opened this envelope!"

The blonde coven leader shook his head. "I didn't tell them anything ye-" At that moment, a pale lean figure detached itself from the shadows; he wore a black suit indicative of the Turks. It was a wonder that neither of the vampires had seen himbefore, his hair was such a vibrant shade of red.

"Mr. Strife might not have told us that you accepted the contract... But I know you did." The man's long ponytail swung slightly as he walked toward the vampires, his mouth pulled into a catlike smile- he definitely had his paw in two very guilty canaries' cage.

Zack punctuated the flood of memory with a swig from his mug. The frothy amber liquid did little to erase the memories; he motioned for the bartender to bring his something exponentially more powerful in an exponentially smaller glass. The raven-haired vampire sullenly nodded his thanks.

"You see, Zack... Can I call you Zack?" The man chuckled and moved to pulled out a chair from the table across the room; the two vampires keep themselves composed in stony silence while the red-haired man seated himself in a chair.

Seeing that Zack wasn't inclined to affirm or deny access to his Christian name, the man laughed again and continued. "Since a member of the Turks- me- has seen you open the job we issued you, we- I" His smile widened into something approximating a feral grimace. "- have the right to kill you; nothing your council does can change that."

Zack downed a third shot and pushed his stool back from the bartop, nodding at the bartender. Zack had a steady tab at the bar, one that he would probably put off paying until they threatened to kick him out.

Once out on the street, Zack found that he didn't have anywhere to go; the sun had set a mere four hours ago which meant that the streets were thick and crowded. The people that surged around Zack gave him more space than the humans they were passing; humans weren't aware of the existence of vampires, but something in their subconscious- primal instinct, Zack supposed- kept they from getting to close to vampires. Or the hot waves of anger rolling of off Zack could be keeping the humans at bay.

"I don't care about the council," Zack growled around his enlarged canines; he was angry which made his fangs look less needle-like and much more fang-like. Cloud shot him a look, but didn't comment otherwise. "If I just kill you here, no one will be the wiser."

"Sinclair!" A comm unit underneath the Turk's black jacket squawked loudly. The red-head cursed and pulled the comm unit, answering in clipped tones. "Reno, responding. What do you want?" he snapped. "I'm busy here, yo."

The voice on the other crackled and then came back. "You're done there. How long does it take to threaten a leach?" Both of the 'leaches' snarled- Cloud softly, and Zack loudly and ferally.

"Hmph. Rude... yanno they can hear you, right?" Reno coughed uncomfortably into the two-way; he had lost his tough guy composure and was now tugging on his unbuttoned collar nervously. The comm squawked again, but the voice on the other end came out as a low murmur. Reno, shifting in his chair, brought the device up to his ear, listening and nodding.

"Okay, okay; keep ya panties on. I'll be there in a few." Reno stood and fixed himself- red hair, red tattoos, and blue eyes were the only things he couldn't make less wild. "Well, I'd love to say it's been fun, but... that would be an over-statement." He moved lithely toward the apartment door, patches of shadow and light playing on his pale skin. He pushed it open and moved half-way through the metal portal before looking back at the vampires.

They had remain utterly motionless, Cloud pulling off a relaxed façade and Zack looking furious, eyes flashing and hands curled into claws. "It was nice talking to you two, yo," Reno quipped with a smirk. Quickly- violet eyes flashing- Zack snatched up a picture frame from a nearby inn-table and flung it with lightning speed at the door. But at that point, Reno had already slipped out the door; the frame smashed against the door with enough force that some of the miniscule pieces flung themselves back at Zack, getting stuck in his hair and scalp.

Zack sighed angrily, not sure what he was furious at anymore. He wouldn't be in this predicament if Reno weren't such a... such a... terrorist! After Reno had left, Zack had walked over to the phone to call Barret and let him know he didn't want the job. Barret trusted Zack enough to know that he wouldn't open a job and then not take it; his faith this time would be misplaced.

With younger, newer mercenaries, employers would make the young guns open or reject a job in front of them to make sure they didn't look at a job and then reject it. If someone had opened a job and then rejected it, he might be tempted to talk about the unaccepted job and authorities might get wind of it. You were less likely to talk about a hit that you were going to carry out.

But when Zack had dialed Barret's number, he had gotten a busy tone. Zack slammed the receiver down, and paced the room. The lights were all on, washing the apartment in a sallow fluorescent glare. Of course, vampires could see in next to no light, but Tifa had arrived at the apartment shortly after Reno had left.

"What happened here?" Tifa asked the two vampires, kicking at pieces of metal and glass that littered the floor around the door. There was a pit in the door, and Tifa ran her pale hands over the dip in the metal.

Zack only looked at the blood slave before moving towards the back of the room where the wall was a continuous sheet of glass. Furniture was placed around haphazardly, and Zack flung himself down on the couch. He wasn't too worried, but he was pissed that Reno and the Turks had forced him into a corner. He didn't like being threatened to do anything.

The vampire sighed and licked a stray fleck of blood from the explosion of glass earlier as he thought of the hassle it would be to call Barret and reject a job. The huge gun-armed man would pester him with questions and he might even suspect that Zack had already opened the manila envelope.

"Nothing, Teef," Cloud called from his office, located in the far reaches of his apartment. "Zack had a temper tantrum... the usual."

Tifa smiled and moved passed the door and into the usually unused kitchen to grab some cleaning supplies and fix the mess. "Tifa," Zack called into the kitchen, not waiting for acknowledgement. "Could you bring the phone out here?" Normally, Cloud would have snapped at Zack for ordering Tifa around, especially without a please. But Cloud must have been buried in his work not to notice.

"Sure thing! Just give me a minute!" she called from the kitchen, shuffling around and slamming cabinets, looking for something to clean the drops of vampire blood from where Zack and Cloud had gotten cut. She sauntered out of the kitchen and dropped the cordless phone in Zack's lap. He smiled up roguishly at Tifa, but she was already moving away. Besides, she only has eyes for one vampire, he thought with a sly grin.

Zack dialed Barret's number and sighed in relief when Barret's deep baritone answered on the other end. "Yo, princess. What's up? I already heard the news."

"You did?" Zack asked in surprise. Barret sounded too happy to just have gotten the news that Zack didn't want his job. "What news?"

Barret paused, wary for a moment. "That you took the job I gave you. A friend of yours called a few minutes ago to let me know you took it, but you were... too busy to tell me. That was a quick feed, man." Reno, Zack thought with venom. He called Barret and told him that Zack wanted the job but was too busy feeding on someone to call and confirm the job. I'm screwed.

"Ah, right," Zack murmured, unenthused. "I just wanted to make sure you got the news." He hung up before Barret could say anything else.

He left the apartment shortly after, which led to him wandering the streets in a worked-up, agitated state. The people walking the street of Midgar surged and ebbed as they made their way home from work, or made their way to the various dives and shady bars that they preferred.

Another shady bar beckoned to the angry vampire. Just as he stepped into the doorway of the dimly lit, smoke-filled room, his phone buzzed with a text message. Zack reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a thin green cell phone. He flipped it open to read the text: Thank you for your business, Mr. Fair. We look forward to working with you, but please know you will be terminated if you fail to uphold your end of the contract. –WRO"

"Well doesn't that beat all?" Zack asked no one in particular with desperate humor. The WRO meant business. He flipped the phone closed and ran his hand through his hair, feeling the pits and bumps on his scalp that were healing from his picture frame mess few hours before.

The violet-eyed vampire slumped into a stool at the bartop and nodded at the scowling bartender- some people could tell a vampire right off, just by looking at them. Usually, those people were eliminated by the Lords, but apparently this man had escaped that fate... so far. " 'Can I getcha?" the man growled with resentful duty.

"Whatever can get me drunk the quickest," Zack mumbled with a wave of his hand. The bartender shot him an askance glance, knowing that vampires couldn't get drunk, but shrugged and slid him a small glass of something clear. Zack downed it gratefully as soon as the cool glass touched his fingers.

He set the glass down on the pitted, cloudy bartop when his elbow was jostled and the glass fell to the floor. It didn't break, but rolled away under a table across the room. The bartender shot Zack a look but refrain from commenting.

"Fancy seeing you here, Zack," Reno crowed, slightly drunk. Zack curled his fingers into his palm, pressing angry red crescents into the white flesh. "I trust you told Barret the good news... No? Oh, that's right! I did!"

It took every ounce of will that Zack had not to haul over and punch Reno's teeth out. "Actually, I did and I just want to let you know that I think you should fu-"

"Excuse me..." A soft feminine voice interrupted them, and Reno looked over Zack shoulder at the speaker and grinned manically. "I think you dropped this?" The voice ended on a question and Zack turned around to accept the glass.

He locked eyes with sea green orbs and froze, his dead breath catching in his throat. It was her, but what was she doing here, in a shady place like this? The girl was a canvas of pink clothes and flushed skin, with a yellow lily tucked into the thin light pink ribbon tying back her braid.

Reno stumbled from the bar and moved quickly to a booth across the room, giving Zack a glare too sharp to be alcohol-hazed; he was faking drunk, the little rat. Get to it, yo, he mouthed, gesturing dramatically.

Okay, so here's chapter two! Yay! I've changed my update days to Sunday, so be on the look out for that, mmkay?

Until next time!