Reno's Rose part 36

Darkness surrounds me as I lie knocked out.  The last thing I remember is Vincent’s voice, calling, asking for me to answer him.  My body comes into feeling and I slowly gain strength to get up.  I feel too tired to get up, but then I hear faint singing, much like the music I heard in the forest before.  But the song is different, it is still as a choir, but the music is more soothing than the first time I heard this chorus.  Before I even get the energy to get up, the music stops.  I hear voices, but I can’t respond to them.  Sadly, as soon as the voices stop, my strength also disappears.  I have to…get up, I think to myself.  The weight of my body is too strong to overcome.  Again, I slip into unconsciousness.  



For what seems like hours, I rest on a hard cold floor.  I have rested enough.  Slowly, my eyes open, but I am not in a familiar area.  Leaning up from the black tiled floor, I glance around and scan the room.  The walls are cave like and black, the moonlight gently shines into the room through high windows only to be countered by dim candle lights inside the room.  From the high ceiling, there is a large diamond chandelier with lit candles.  Rather than doors in this large area, it remains to be as a cave with big archways as doors to other parts of the large space.  I look down and next to me is Adam.  The fascinating room leaves my mind.  Now, I focus on Adam.  Hurriedly, I come over him and look down at his limp body.  My hands come to his shoulders and I lightly shake him.  “Adam?” I ask with a light voice, but he says nothing.  My eyes widen and I gaze at Adam’s body, not knowing what to think.  Again, I shake him, but harder.  “Adam, wake up,” I tell him with a stronger voice.  
I let him lie on the floor, but then he stirs.  With a small moan and a hand to his head, he wakes up.  I smile as he leans up.  With his red eyes, he looks at me.  “Where are we?” he asks.  
Still smiling, I reply, “I don’t know, but I’m glad that you’re still alive.”
“Hm,” he stands and reaches into his pocket.  Taking out his phone, he flips it open.  
“What are you doing?” I ask.  
Adam sighs, “My phone’s not working.” He flips his phone shut and I stand next to him.  “You think this is where the Hunters’ hideout is?”
I place my hand on my chin, “Um, I don’t know.  This place is pretty fancy for—look, a pipe organ!” I interrupt myself randomly as I turn my head.  Without a second thought, I dash to the large instrument.  I stop and gawk at the size of the organ.  This is NOTHING compared to that organ in the ruins, I think to myself.  Gazing at the keys, I see sheet music.  “Oh, what’s this?” As I examine the sheet music on the organ, I hear Adam come up next to me.  “I can’t see it,” I complain as I swipe the music off the instrument.  There are at least 50 pages of written music now in my hand.  “Hm, this looks interesting.”
Adam looks over my shoulder, “It’s the music for ‘Toccata and Fugue’.  That is naturally a long piece to play.  Not to mention difficult to play on the organ alone.”
“‘Toccata and Fugue’…I think I’ve played that at least a dozen times before,” I reply, remembering my former life as a child playing instruments endlessly.  Sitting myself down in front of the organ, I place the music on the stand.  
“Rosalina, shouldn’t you be more concerned about where we are, rather than playing music?”
He does have a point, but why ruin my fun?  “Adam, if the Hunters were here, wouldn’t we be dead or something?  Besides, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s here.”
“It only seems that way to you,” he quietly sighs.  
“Shh, I’m playing music!” Calmly, I look at the music and get ready.  Instantly, I start playing.  Man, this brings back memories of so many things.  As my fingers dance on the four different sets of keys, I let the music flow through me like the wind.  Then, the page has to be turned.  Crap, I can’t turn the page, I panic.  
Adam reaches the page and turns it.  I give him a confused expression.  As he also reads the music, he says, “You’re not the only one who knows how to read and play music.”
I honestly wouldn’t expect him to know much about music.  Many people don’t find it very important.  For about ten minutes this song carries on and Adam, without skipping a beat, turns every page on time.  Not only has he impressed me, but I have a feeling that he hasn’t met many people that can play this song without giving up after the first page.  Then the big finally comes and I make the organ end with a loud chord.  My hands drop from the keyboards and I let out a big sigh.  “Ta-da, there, I did it…” I take a deep breath and raise my hands in the air, “YES!” But unfortunately, I lean back in the bench and— “Oh crap—” BAM!  Well, you could guess that I fall back and hit the hard floor…because that’s exactly what happened, genius right?  
Adam holds out his hand.  “Need some help?”
Embarrassed, I smile.  “That would help, yeah.” Taking his hand, Adam pulls me up rather quickly.  “Thanks, heh.”
Adam calmly closes his eyes and answers, “Not to be rude or anything, but who falls out of a bench seat?”
I nervously laugh, “Me, apparently.”
Adam’s eye open again and he looks at me.  He opens his mouth to say something, but instead, we hear clapping.  His head turns and he pulls out his gun, prepared for anything.  I too reach for my weapon for battle.  
The moonlight disappears and we hear, “Bravo, simply amazing.” I glance around the room, trying to find the source of the man’s echoing voice.  
Then, I look in front of me, in the shadow of the organ, someone stands.  A man walks out into the light.  He looks about in his late twenties; his hair is long, curly, and dark brown while his eyes are a forest green.  He wears a black long suit, but it’s open, revealing his chest.  To match this, he wears black pants.  He comes in front of us, no longer clapping.  I fiercely expand my spear and point the blade at this man’s neck.  Handsome or not, I don’t know who he is.  This man stops walking and smiles.  “What, is ‘amazing’ not a good enough word for you?”
“Who are you?” I bite.  
“How rude of me,” he backs away from me and politely bows to us.  “I am Randolph, leader of HAO.”
“HAO?  What’s that?” Adam asks.  
I don’t lighten up in the slightest.  “For your sake, it better be on our side.”
Randolph chuckles as he stands up straight.  “Miss, I assure you that we wouldn’t even think of going against you.”
“We?” Both Adam and I ask simultaneously.  
“Let me introduce you to my family of the HAO,” he raises both of his hands into the air and people appear into the room like ghosts.  I turn around and there are about a dozen new people in the room.  
“What the heck?” I whisper.  Suddenly, hands come to my shoulder and I am completely turned to face the new people.  
“Everyone, these are our new guests.” Randolph puts his mouth next to my ear, “Forgive me, but I haven’t gotten either of your names.”
Feeling a bit nervous with this guy touching my bare shoulders, I answer, “Um, I’m Rosalina,”
“And what about your friend?”
My eyes look into Adam’s.  “His name’s Adam.”  
He smiles and looks at the rest of the people.  “This is Rosalina and Adam.” Then Randolph lightly pushes me along to the left end of the people.  
We appear in front of a girl with albino skin, light green eyes and long dark red hair pulled back into a bun.  She wears a black tube top and black tight jean pants.  She looks at me and folds her arms.  “Huh, you don’t look all that special.”
“Jackie, that was uncalled for,” Randolph replies without a smile.  
“Tch, whatever,” she waves her hand and turns her head to look elsewhere.  
Adam walks next to us and Randolph says, “Forgive me.  Jackie isn’t the nicest member of our group.”
Adam closes his eyes, “Apparently not.”
Right when he says this, Jackie looks back at us and sees Adam.  “Well, hello there, cutie.”
I grab Adam’s arm and Randolph pushes me alone the line.  The three of us stop in front of two young men.  They both have short-ish silver hair much like Kadaj’s.  But that is the only thing similar, their skin is darker than Kadaj’s only by a pinch though.  The two have blue eyes, but they dress differently.  The one on the left wears an open red long coat with no shirt underneath, and brown pants.  The one on the right, however, wears a long blue sleeveless Chinese jacket.  
“This is Eithan and Daniel,” Randolph tells us.  He turns us to another pair of twins, only their skin is bleached, just like Jackie’s, but unlike Jackie, these two guys only wear leather pants and no shirts.  “These are the other set of twins we have, “Ian and Aaron.”
The one with long black wavy hair smirks and shows his teeth.  His gold eyes stare into mine.  With his long fingernails he urges me to come over to him.  “Come here, girl.” And with an invisible force, I am pulled towards him.  “I’m Aaron.” Then, without warning, he opens his mouth and lowers his mouth to my neck.  
I quickly act—WHOOSH!  Throwing my fist at his face, Aaron jerks back and only just dodges my fist.  
Adam takes my arm and pulls me away from the two.  He jumps in front of me and pulls out his gun.  Sternly, he stares at Aaron.  “I’ll shoot if you try that again,” Adam tells him.  
Aaron grins, “I was only joking around.  Can’t you take a joke?”
Then, the other twin, Ian, speaks up, “Some joke THAT was, Aaron.  You almost got your head blown off.” He pushes past his brother.  Ian has shorter and thicker hair than Aaron, but it’s still black.  Not only is his hair different, but Ian’s eyes are a dark red, an almost complete opposite from Aaron’s gold eyes.  “Forgive my brother, he’s so rude to guests,” he apologizes to me as he takes my hands kindly.  
A little struck buy the two, I answer, “No, no, it’s fine.” I nudge Adam with my elbow.  “Put your gun away, Adam.”
For a moment, Adam glares at Aaron, but then he listens to me.  I can sense that he’s still not comfortable with these people, especially Aaron.  
Ian releases my hands and further down the line, Adam and I come to two girls.  One has short reddish brown hair, blue eyes and wears different kinds of jewelry on her face and neck.  The other one has light brown eyes, purple and silver hair, and wears an outfit with glowing blue neon edges.  “These two are Megan and Lucy,” Randolph tells me.  I watch them and Lucy stares at me as if she were staring at an ex-boyfriend while Megan just blankly stares into the distance and runs her hands on her long burgundy, Elizabeth era styled dress.  
What’s wrong with that Lucy girl?  I’ve never met her before and she looks like she going to kill me, I silently think to myself.  
“Rosalina, Adam, this is Septimus.” The two of us look and see another albino-skinned person.  
Septimus wears black pants and a long coat that looks a lot like a mixture of shiny rubber and leather.  This man eyes me with his green eyes, but then looks at Adam.  “Charmed,” he replies, seeming sarcastic.  Turning his head, he looks at the girl next to him.  “Michelle, say hello to the guests.”
The girl standing next to Septimus wears only a black tube top, with black shorts.  She has long wavy purple and black hair and very light blue eyes maybe even lighter than mine own.  What’s really different, even a bit frightening about this girl is that she has black tattoos on her body, even on her face.  But that’s not all, she has what looks like a red mouth guard over her face.  
Out of the blue, I ask, “What’s with the thing on her face?  Is she alright?”
Septimus smirks, “Oh, she’s fine.  We just have that guard over her mouth so she doesn’t go crazy, that’s all.”
My eyes widen. “What do you mean?” Adam asks with a serious tone.  
Septimus snickers and replies, “Well, Michelle is one of those wild people, you know?  She can’t help it.”
Randolph tries to urge Adam and me away from Septimus and Michelle, but I trip over my own feet.  Accidentally, I fall into Michelle, pushing her forcefully.  I hit the floor, face first.  “Ow…” I moan to myself.  Way to make yourself graceful, Rosalina, I think to myself.  Then, I hear a low growl, like what you’d hear from a wolf.  My head jerks up and my eyes widen.  
Michelle’s tattoos move along her skin and begin to change her skin into a pitch black color.  
Behind me, I hear Randolph yell, “Victoria, Susan, restrain her!”
Not even a second passes and two blurs fly past me and tackle Michelle.  She falls to the ground and I see what the blurs really are.  Two girls try to hold down Michelle.  One holds her arms, she has a regular skin complexion, long blonde hair, yellow-green eyes and wears a blue armor-like outfit.  The other girl has long pulled back black/red hair and a darker complexion than everyone.  Her back faces me, but I can tell that she wears a burgundy and dark gray short tank top with a matching short skirt (but not a ridiculously short skirt).  
The blonde hair girl yells, “Victoria, hurry up and use the antidote!”
This girl, Victoria, doesn’t answer, she only jumps off Michelle.  
“What are you doing?!” the blonde girl yells.  
Victoria lands perfectly on her feet.  Her eyes are closed.  “You said that you’re powerful enough to take Michelle on your own, Susan…so, show me.” Victoria’s eyes snap open and I see her eyes.  They are bright orange and glowing.  
“Victoria what are you—” Michelle has changed into a Hunter and takes Susan by the leg.  Violently, Michelle swings the girl around while the rest of us stare.  Everyone but Randolph, Adam, and myself rush to stop Michelle, but she tosses everyone back as if they were just little ants.   Just as quickly, all of them try to restrain her again.  
“Sir, she’s becoming too powerful!” Susan yells to Randolph.  
“Hold on, I’m coming,” he answers her.  Releasing my shoulder, Randolph runs off to help the others, but before he can—CRACK!  
Michelle escapes from the others and looks at me with her pitch black Hunter eyes.  In an instant she runs towards me and I can tell she wants to hurt me.  Adam runs in front of her, to protect me, but Michelle whacks him with her arm, making him fly through the air and onto the cold hard floor.  
My eyes widen with fear, I can’t move, I can’t breathe, I can’t do anything.  Tightly, I close my eyes and scream…everything stops.  I was expecting to at least be thrown through the air, but nothing happens.  Too frightened to open my eyes again, I feel a hand on my shoulder.  Scared, my eyes snap open.  “Get off me!” I yell as I swing my arms.  
This person grabs both of my arms and tries to hold me still, “Rosalina, it’s okay.  It’s me, Anthony.”
Looking straight again, I see that it is Anthony.  Blankly, I stare at him with wide eyes.  “An…Anthony?” I barely whisper.  
He warmly smiles at me as tears fall from my eyes.  No, I don’t feel sad, but having as many traumas in one day will get to you.  Of course, I should know.  He brings me closer to him.  “It’s alright, Cree and Randolph have it covered.” He turns my body and shows me Michelle being held by Randolph and a woman.  
“Randolph, give her the antidote,” the woman says.  
And with that, Randolph sticks Michelle with what looks like a needle used for medical shots.  Calmly, Michelle stops squirming and falls limp onto the floor.  
The woman glances at the others and sternly replies, “Lucy, Jackie, take Michelle to her bed chamber.  The two nod and obey by carrying Michelle’s body out of the room.  Then, the woman turns to Adam.  “Are you alright?” she asks him, almost seeming like a demand.  
He gets up from the floor and stands up straight, “I’m fine, thank you.”
Turning my head to Anthony, I ask him, “Who is she?”
Anthony can’t help but chuckle at this, “That is Cree, she is the secondary leader of the HAO.”
“H…what?” I throw him a confused look.
“HAO stands for Hunter Assassin Operation,” Randolph comes next to us and continues, “We are the ‘other’ vampires, the ‘good guys’, as you might say.”
“Our plan is to rid this planet of the Hunters,” Anthony comments at the last second.  
The woman, Cree comes up to us with Adam.  “So, who are these two?” I scan her up and down.  She has a strict, but beautiful face.  Her eyes are a mixture of steel gray and emerald green, any guy could get lost in her eyes.  She wears her hair tightly pulled back into two buns and chopsticks put in them, but just beside her left eye hangs a small section of dark pink hair, matching her lipstick that is only a single strip vertically down her lips.  Her outfit is a bit interesting.  Aside from wearing large silver hoop earrings, she wears short black cape made from what looks like crow feathers.  Under that, she wears a long sleeved tight black shirt, matching leather pants and high black boots.  
“Ma’am, my name is Rosalina and this is my friend, Adam,” I quickly introduce myself and Adam with a little bow.  
“Hm, so respectful.” She walks around us and looks at the organ.  “Tell me, who was playing the organ without permission?”
“That was me, ma’am,” I tell her, feeling a bit scared.  
“Really now?  So, maybe you are the savior that the Hunters keep talking about.”
“Hunters?” Adam and I ask simultaneously.  
“Oh yes, you must also know what they mean by that.”
I’m about to shake my head, but Adam begins to speak.  “They mean that she is the key to their victory.  They plan to use her against everyone else.”
“Really?” I gasp.  
Anthony’s eyes look into mine, “Yes, and that’s why we brought you here, to protect you.”
For a minute, I think.  “We’re you guys singing while Adam and I were in the forest?”
Randolph smiles, “Yes, that was us.  We were practicing our worship to our god.”
I raise an eyebrow, “Who’s your god?”
“Sephiroth,” he answers as if it were a simple question.