A/N:
Artistic license says I won't be going into every single part of the game here. I'm going to skip some parts and amend others. It's how I keep things flowing. Thanks for reading!
Slainte.
….
IX: ABDUCTION
"We hunger in earnest for that which we cannot consume."
― Nenia Campbell, Black Beast
Rojo la Muerte, Spain – 2004
The door led them into what felt like some kind of underground prison. It was structurally decrepit and falling apart. It had water infiltration that signified exposure to the elements. It meant the castle wasn't as secure as they'd thought.
The cells along the walls were falling down on themselves. The bars were lying discarded on the floor or had sunk into the stone beneath them. The rock was dripping and moldy in places. You could hear water infiltrating somewhere in the distance.
Leon took a step forward, the shotgun aimed, and stepped in something squishy.
He glanced down and then over at Jill.
She eyed it and shrugged.
The floor was eroded toward the center of the prison block before them. It spilled into a pit filled with water. Jill moved to look into the murky water.
She glanced back at him. "We need to get across here. Clearly."
Leon opened his mouth to say something and the air shimmered over her. He hoisted the shotgun, she blinked, and he aimed it at her face. Her hands came up, she backed up, "Leon?"
And he fired.
Jill dropped, crying out, but he wasn't shooting her.
Nope.
Something fell to the floor behind her, scrambling and screeching. She rolled away, jumping to her feet as the shimmery thing became invisible. It was…a bug. A bug or something. It was a mutated cricket with enormous claws and glowing green eyes. It flashed in and out of camouflage without even trying.
Jill straddled it and stabbed it clean in the exposed under carriage.
With a hiss and a screech of sound, it died where it struggled.
Leon whistled and she rolled. Just like that. She rolled. Claws sliced over her head and Leon shot it with another blast from the shotgun.
Jill felt it leap on her back anyway. She shouted and kicked madly with her face on the ground. It reared back and opened its mouth, she screamed, and Leon hit it again. It was thrown sideways off her. The spit from its mouth struck the ground beside her face…and burned. It sizzled. And it melted the stone into a crater.
Acid.
ACID.
Jill rolled to her feet and ran toward him.
It wasn't even a thought for him. He grabbed her arm and slung her behind him. A little too male hero for her tastes…but he did have the shotgun.
There was a skittering sound along the ceiling and he dropped. Jill went belly down and Leon went to his back. The talons sliced for his face, the bug dropped toward him, and he blew it out of the air from a foot away.
It was thrown up and out. It hit the far wall and slid down, scrambling as it died.
Jill whispered, "What the fuck?"
"Yeah. That about covers it. We need to drain this water to get down there. The only way out is through the sewage pipe in the water."
Jill glanced at him. "You sure?"
"It makes sense. This was used to hold prisoners. The drainage system would have been the first thing to go under the assault of the water. My guess is that the guards used to use the sewer system to get around unnoticed."
Jill nodded and rose. "The drainage system to reroute the water should be close by, right?"
"Logically. If you can use logic in a rotting castle filled with killer bugs."
And now she laughed a little. They veered carefully down the narrow hallway to their left. It was falling half collapsed to one side. They had to ease through a cell to emerge out the other side. She stayed close to him.
He shifted to listen and realized she actually had one hand on her pistol and the other wrapped around his belt.
He rolled his head to look at her.
She glanced down, blushed, and let go of him. "Sorry. SORRY. Shit."
"S'ok. You scared?"
And now she laughed a little, breathlessly. "You aren't?"
"Nope. Not at all." He winked at her as they eased into an open room. It over looked the water-filled pit they'd left behind. They could see the water through the bars.
Jill gripped the red valve on the wall and started turning it. The drainage system roared to life with a gurgle and a pop like a bathtub draining. They watched the water drain out and leave the pit empty.
Guns at the ready, they emerged from the room to back track.
He'd been right, of course, the pit had a large opening for them to ease through and come out the other side. They moved carefully, listening to the plop and drip of water around them. The tunnel smelled like moldy old ass.
On the other side, a ladder climbed up to a ledge with a door. They started across the opening and Leon heard the splashing first. Jill spun back and fired.
She fired blind but it caused the bug rushing them to shimmer enough and give them an idea of where it was. It kicked up water now as it raced toward them. Leon fired and it leaped to the side. The shot went wild and tossed water in a plume where it had been.
It hit the wall and raced with a skittering of its exoskeleton on stone. Jill fired at the shimmer of it. It screeched and bounced off the wall. She saw it shift the air and tackled Leon so hard it sent him onto his ass in the water.
But it saved him from losing his head.
The claws bisected the air and the acid spewed a foot from them.
Jill spun back and kicked it. She kicked it in midair.
It was a solid kick.
The thing was tossed into the far wall and Leon shot it from his ass on the ground.
Another one dropped straight down atop him. He lost the shotgun trying to keep it from eating his face. It screeched, Jill screamed, and it drew his arms out to the side almost obscenely. It was spreading him open to what? To eviscerate him most likely.
He rolled his hips, humped up, and scissors kicked it in the back of the head. Screeching, it went to the side and Jill spun a roundhouse at it to get it to release him. She grabbed the shotgun from the water and blasted it from point-blank range.
It was thrown off into the water to create a wave that washed around Leon's back as it died.
Her hand came down to jerk him to his feet. "Are you alright?!"
His face was bleeding. One of the claws had caught him above the eyebrow. She used her jacket to sweep the blood away. Shallow but too close. It tried to bisect his eyebrow in half. An inch lower and he'd have lost the eye.
She offered him the shotgun.
He took it, eyeing her. "I'm good. Thank you."
"Yep. Yep yep. Partners right?"
"That's what they say."
Jill nodded and hurried passed him to climb the ladder. He watched her ass as she climbed. Partners. Sure. Right. That's what they were. Partners.
Mmhmm.
Sure.
Shaking his head, he followed her up the ladder. She cleared into the next room and gestured him through.
Nothing trying to spit acid on them here. Nope.
Just four enormous pendulums swinging back and forth from the ceiling waiting to cleave them in half.
Leon blinked.
"Shades of Edgar Allen Poe up in this bitch."
Jill snorted. And laughed. She just laughed. She mused, "I think the story was The Pit and the Pendulum, handsome. Not the Spit and Pendulum."
He winced a little. "Bad, Valentine. Bad."
"Sorry. My puns suffer when giant bugs spit acid at me."
"Get it together." He smirked at her. Timing things, they leaped from one platform to the next to cross the pit before them. The pendulums swung, sharp and deadly. They made a SCHWINK and SCHWUNK sound as they went, trying to split skin and sky.
At the far side, Leon turned back to observe them. "Seriously…what the hell man?"
Jill shrugged, shaking her head. "You trying to make sense out of madness, Mr. Kennedy?"
"Apparently. I'm mostly a rational guy." Save for when he was chasing two pringles hugging in a pair of tight pants. Then, maybe not so rational.
The door opened to the hallway they'd left behind when Ashley was taken. They'd, literally, made a loop back on themselves. But apparently, they'd missed something important the first time.
A gated entry at the top of the far stairs was now open…because down in the middle of the grand hallway…some kind of ritual was in progress. One of the men in the red robes with the goat masks was leading a series of grey garbed monks in prayer. An altar sat in the middle of them draped in blood-red silk. The plagas symbol they worshiped was in a pewter statue on it. A human heart lay beside the statue, horrible, bloody, and somehow still beating.
They prayed. They chanted. The word Muerte was in there. The word plagas. The word dios.
Leon and Jill leaned against the wall, silent, listening. Objectively, the door they were trying to get through on the far side would be sealed when the ritual goers were done and had left the hallway. So, they needed to get to that door before that happened.
The chandelier in the center of the hallway beckoned. If they could leap to it and leap from it to the far side, they MIGHT be able to get through the door without alerting the fifteen men down below. Leon lifted a finger to his lips and gestured with his head.
Jill nodded and they shifted quietly. The men below were taking turns taking bites from the human heart that they passed around. She gave Leon a disgusted look and he pantomimed barfing.
Trying not to laugh, she watched him take two steps backward and make a running leap to the chandelier.
He was so damn quiet that it was insane. He landed on the heavy metal outside ring without a sound. There was merely a tiny tinkle of crystal nearly lost beneath the chanting below.
Jill backed up and jumped. She caught the edge and eased up on it beside him. Not nearly as silent, of course, but still quiet beneath the din of loud murmurs below them. They treated the chandelier like a see-saw. She swung it back, he swung it forward. When it had a good little swing on it, Leon leaped off and landed soundlessly on the adjacent balcony.
Jill mirrored him and sprung off. She landed on the far side and he caught her against him. Their eyes held for a long moment…and she pulled away like he was on fire. Leon sighed a little and they made their way quietly to the far door.
They emerged through the far door and found themselves in a gallery.
The décor was lovely here. It was antiques and hand polished wood. The beautiful carpet on the cold stone was well maintained and Berber in a deep wine red. Crown molding and hand sculpted columns lined the white washed stone, offering the viewer the chance to enjoy the semblance of paintings that invited one to discover the roots of the castellans that had served faithfully for generations.
Beautiful portraits lined the walls. They were painted with a practiced hand. They were lovely and expensive and haunting. Most of them anyway.
The wall before them was horrifying in comparison. It was four portraits depicting death. The first showed a man with his head in a guillotine ready to lose it. The second were two people hung by their necks in the gallows. The final two portraits were the same each contained a set of three crucified and pale. It was…eerie. It was uncomfortable. It was graced with a podium with a set of three buttons. And a small plaque that informed them: The Sacrifice of Six Shall Show the Way.
Leon glanced at Jill. She eyed him in return. With a shrug, he pressed the first button.
The portraits shimmered in the wall and shivered. And then they rotated. The first two rotated to reveal another set of two hanging and three more being crucified. Jill made a small sound. "It wants us to show only six."
"Yep. Usually, the puzzles are a wee bit more challenging."
Jill chuckled a little.
It was a matter of pushing the right combination of buttons. Each button turned a different set of portraits. The middle rotated the right three. The third button rotated the last two. After a few clicks and experimentation, the portraits finally revealed two sets of men hanging from the gallows and two men being forced into the guillotine. The wall shivered, it made a small click of release, and it slid away to reveal the door beyond.
They held gazes again.
Jill gripped the knob of the door and eased it open.
The room beyond was empty. It was a wide open area with a dais rising from the floor. On the dais, an ornate blue and gold chest beckoned. They locked eyes again. They held them. Finally, Leon remarked, "This is too easy."
"Yes. This is WAY too easy."
They eased across a small walkway to the dais. They were both ITCHY with waiting for the other shoe to drop. Leon eased open the hinged lid with a small metal release of latches. And a piece of the puzzle waited there for them on the plush red satin.
It was the goat portion of the chimera.
It was pewter and heavy. He picked it up and glanced at Jill again.
She shrugged one delicate shoulder.
They eased back across the walkway and moved to the far door. No one jumped out to kill them. No one leaped from the ceiling to eat them. Nothing triggered acid rain or fire or bursts of bugs to devour them. Too easy.
It was too easy.
It couldn't be this easy.
The door opened now into the cold night air. A breeze had kicked up in the absence of the storm. It chilled the skin as they moved. A fountain waited, tinkling pretty and musical. Ravens croaked and dipped their beaks into the pristine water. The moonlight cast shadows while inky clouds danced across its face.
They were, for all intents and purposes, alone.
Leon secured the goat ornament in his cargo pocket as they walked. Jill was desperately thirsty. She wanted to join the birds in drinking the water of the fountain. But she was pretty sure if she did, she'd swallow some kind of virus and burst apart to become an enormous killer bug.
The cold tickled her hair as it deftly lifted her ponytail in the breeze.
They moved in the cold air together in silence. The silence was nearly as loud as the fountain they left behind as they crossed the chilly stone toward the far side of the castle. You could hear the suggestion of another fountain somewhere in the distance. The breeze rustled, occasionally a crow cawed or a raven croaked.
He'd finally had enough of the silence and started to say something when his communicator signaled. He drew Jill to a halt with a hand on her arm and opened the video.
"Hunnigan? What do you have for me?"
Hunnigan's pretty face started to speak and the video feed shivered, cut out, and came back…to reveal the ugly midget that was fucking with them.
"AH! Mr. Kennedy!" The nasally little voice grated on the nerves, "I have hijacked your signal. You will no longer be getting ANY help from the others."
Leon cocked at brow at him. "Can't make friends any other way, huh pal? They have personal ad's to help with that kind of thing. I just bet there's an evil midget seeking midget section. Maybe you can meet an evil Oompa-Loompa and settle down."
Less than amused, Salazar rolled his eyes. "Keep joking, Mr. Kennedy. But we will see who has the last laugh. I see you have found my garden. Delightful. My pets have been looking for a new playmate. Perhaps you will offer them some exercise before they devour you."
"Awesome. I've been getting a little bored before now with the pathetic shit you keep throwing at me. Maybe your pets will keep me entertained."
"Such a jokester. So tough. You will not be so tough when you are screaming for mercy."
Leon chuckled a little. "You don't know me, Salazar, but let me offer you a word of advice: don't waste your time trying to scare me. I don't give two shits about anything you've got waiting in this castle of crappy horror movie clichés. I'm coming for Ashley. If she's so much as missing a hair on her head, I'm going to shove your head so far up your ass you'll have to wear yourself as a hat."
The giggle from their evil benefactor made both Leon and Jill wince. It was just that gross to hear it.
"Ahhhh so she fell into one of my traps after all. Wonderful. Worry not, Mr. Hero. I will take care of the girl while you ring the dinner bell for my pets. Enjoy your bravado while it lasts. I'm afraid I have to tie up a couple of …loose ends. Like chasing down another pair of RATS." Salazar clicked off the video feed.
Leon glanced at Jill with raised brows as he put the communicator back in his pocket. "A couple of rats….if one is Luis…"
Jill held his look, "Who's the other?"
The answer was waiting for them to find it. There was another intruder in the mess. In this case, Leon thought, the enemy of their enemy could be their friend. Someone had left him that note earlier. So he knew there were other players in the mix. Who?
Friend or foe?
There was no way to answer that without getting back inside the castle.
There was an enormous garden at the base of a long staircase. It showed prettily in the moonlight. It was well lit with torches and surrounded on all sides by enormous, perfectly groomed hedges. The door to their right was locked tight. And there was no using Jill to pick the lock. They needed two pieces of some kind of missing stone to get it to open.
Leon glanced down at the enormous garden. He could see two beautiful fountains, a bridge, and a cage on the far side from their perch atop the rise. He glanced at Jill in the moonlight. "What's the likelihood the pieces we need are down there in that maze?"
Because it was a maze. The hedges were laid out to invite you to wander amongst the paths they protected…and likely leave you lost in the mess of it. It was stupid to go down there and start poking around. But what other choice was there?
Jill held his gaze for a moment and sighed. "So maybe we split up. We can cover ground easier that way. I can go left, you can go right. If needs be…I think we can cut through the hedges to find our way back out."
Leon nodded and moved toward the stairs. "Be careful. Those bugs were dangerous as fuck. I don't like the idea of splitting up with invisible bugs running around."
Jill shrugged a little as they reached the base of the stairs. She gave him a mirthless smirk. "The key to survival is really rather simple."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah. One word actually."
They paused at the first split in the path. The fork offered them left and right. She started left and Leon grabbed her arm to halt her. She glanced down at his hand. She wanted to slide her hand down and twine their fingers.
She wanted to hold hands and stroll around the gardens while "pets" tried to eat them. What was he doing to her? It was insane.
"What's the word?"
Her eyes moved from his hand and up to his curious expression. She said, softly, "Run."
His eyes volleyed over her face. She did the same. It was like they were trying to memorize the other. Finally, he let go of her arm and answered, quietly, "Be careful."
"You too."
Jill turned to move down her path.
Leon rubbed the tips of his fingers together like he could still feel her arm there and turned down his with a long-suffering sigh.
He was a few steps down when she called out to him, "I used to have a pet leech."
He turned to look at her. She walked backward a few steps and finished her statement, "It was attached to me."
He stopped. She stopped. They both blinked. He shook his head and laughed a little. Jill chortled and shrugged and disappeared around the turn in the hedges.
Damn her.
He rubbed his fingers together again and kept the Magnum ready in his other hand.
The maze spilled him around a corner three times. He circled back on himself in the cold night air and found his way to another dead end. This one showed the cage he'd seen from the overpass. It was empty...which was probably a bad sign.
Sighing, he started to turn back when he heard the rustling of the hedges.
He tilted his head. He listened. He waited….and the hedges split when one of Salazar's "pets" exploded from the green leaves with a crack and rattle of breaking branches. It landed on the muddy ground in a splatter of rain water and growling.
The wolves they'd found outside the church apparently waited amongst the maze for their dinner. It padded, pacing him. It eyed him with angry, intelligent, hungry eyes. It slobbered from its razor-sharp muzzle.
Leon tilted his head, "Hey Fido. Want a treat?"
With a rumbling growl, it leaped at him.
On the other side of the maze, Jill extracted the small disk from the water of the fountain she'd found. The headless goddess that poured water into the fountain at her feet should have been creepy. But she was somehow ethereal.
Jill lifted the disk, eyeing the half of a moon that graced the cold stone. She poked the disk into her pocket and turned to head back when she heard the gun go off. It was loud in the quiet night.
She froze, listening.
She heard him fire once, twice, and a third time.
Silence followed. She called out, in the quiet night, "Leon!?"
And his voice came back to her on the wind, "I'm fine! It's those damn wolves, Jill. He's got them in the maze with us."
No sooner had he spoken, then the hedges rustled and spilled two of them to the muddy ground to pace her. One had the whipping tentacles that had spilled from its ruined back. The other opened up like a flower in the sun and showed rows and rows of rotting, razor-sharp teeth. It's whole head and muzzle split in half like a zipper had pulled across its flesh to open it and eat her.
Jill blasted the first one to rush her and threw herself to her back as it soared over her head. She rolled, drove her boots up into its belly, and tossed it into the fountain with a crash and splash of water. The tentacle one whipped her so hard she was sent rolling around the ground from the impact.
It hurt. It slapped her face and arms as she hit the side of the fountain and scrambled away. The water from the fountain splattered her face as she moved.
She spun back and ducked, feeling the tentacle slap into her shoulders as she used the fountain to offer a shield against it. It raced around behind her and she was forced to follow her rule: she ran. She ran like she was trying to win the race. Maybe she was in a way.
She burst through the maze at a manic pace. She heard the pound and press of paws behind her. Not alone now, it had gathered friends. She could hear countless numbers giving chase to her.
She ducked between two hedges and missed losing her head to one that leaped where she'd been. The fear beat in her chest like drums. She was surrounded. She was going to die screaming and ripped to pieces by wolves. A bad way to go.
Afraid, she raced up a set of stairs to the top of a bridge and barreled across it.
They chased her across the bridge growling and snarling. They were fast and deadly. They were howling.
At the end, a fountain waited and offered nothing but a view of the rest of the maze. She caught sight of a gate at the bottom of the drop and vaulted over to the ground below. A tentacle whipped her back as she went, splitting her jacket and drawing blood.
She landed, rolled, and kept on running.
The rusty gate gave with a squeal of metal as she hit it and burst through, slamming it shut behind her.
The path went right and Jill raced up the stairs that waited. She heard the snarling and snapping behind her as she ran. She scrambled on the stairs and heard the gate give with a rusty peal of release behind her. The pound of paws chased her toward the locked door at the top.
Terrified, Jill slapped the piece in her hand in the slot and realized the other piece was already there. Leon had clearly located the other piece while she'd been running for her life. The door clicked to signal it was open and she tumbled through, kicking it shut in her wake.
She scrambled and fell to her knees and the door opened behind her.
She rolled onto her back and sighted down her arm at Leon's face as he burst through. He ignored her and kicked the door shut, throwing the lock on it. The wolves were pacing on the balcony they'd left behind.
They were in a pretty bedroom. The four-poster pediment bed in the corner of the room was mahogany and finely carved. It was canopied and draped in red silk. An armoire that was likely hundreds of years old set to one side, inviting the viewer to hang their petticoats before they napped.
There was a series of old antique hutches and dressers. There were two small lanterns that flickered and cast dull light on the floor around them. The old red and blue carpet beneath their feet was faded but finely woven. The candelabras on the wall beside the bed cast shadows in the ornate darkness.
A small antechamber was easily cleared beside the bedroom. It was little more than a vanity and a wardrobe with a set of curious cases that offered fine china and beautiful art to the curious eye. The paintings on the walls were framed in gold and offered beautiful women in repose and gathered in lush gardens. It was impossible to guess the age of the paintings. Like most things in the castle, it was impossible to tell what was old and what was simply made to look old. What was real and what was surreal? A question without an answer in a castle of lies.
A door waited to one side, offering them another trip into an unknown area.
He cleared the room easily enough. It was quiet here and the sounds from the balcony faded as the wolves gave up their pursuit to return to the maze and await the return of their promised dinner. There was no going back that way. It was through the far door or death now.
Leon reached down to help her up.
Jill winced as he eased her to her feet.
"Christ, are you ok?" His hands tilted her face into the muted light, studying the bleeding cheekbone and eyebrow. The tentacles had smacked the shit out of her, clearly.
She shrugged, breathing fast and loud. She lifted a hand and pressed it to her chest. Her heart was racing with fear. "Give me a minute here. Just a second."
He nodded and shifted his hands to her upper arms. The back of her jacket was ripped. Concerned, he turned her a little to see the damage. It was pretty bad. She was bleeding all over the place.
Leon shifted away toward the bed. "Take off the jacket. Let me see how bad it is."
Jill unzipped the jacket without arguing and hissed as she slid it off.
He gestured her over toward him as he readied some antiseptic from the first aid kit. Jill moved forward and limped a little. She'd twisted her ankle in the run and it was throbbing.
She sat gingerly on the mattress with another wince of pain.
Leon knelt and eased off her boot. Jill made a small sound of pain and grabbed his shoulder with one hand. He glanced up at her face as he took her foot and turned it, testing the flex and checking the swelling on it.
Jill made another small sound and went pale.
He removed her sock to check her toes and ankle. There was minimal swelling and no bruising which was good. Objectively, she had a pretty foot. The toes were painted a jaunty silvery blue. She'd had a little flower painted on the tip of the big toe nail.
Amused, he lifted a brow at it.
Jill pursed her lips and waited for the judgment. He said nothing and simply shifted to wrap the ankle tightly with an ace bandage before helping her back on with the boot. She happily took the little bottle of water and pain reliever he offered her as he rose.
He said, "Let's see the back."
Jill swallowed the pain relief powder and shook her head at him. "I'm fine. It's fine. Let's get moving here."
"You're bleeding pretty badly. We have to check the damage."
"I'm fine. Honestly."
Leon shook his head and grasped the hem of her tank top. His fingers brushed her belly beneath it and brought a flush to her face.
Jill grabbed his hands to stop him and he lifted his brows at her. "Take it off Jill. Let me help you."
She was being stupid. She didn't want to take her shirt off for him. Well, she did. She wanted to take off all her clothes around him. She wanted to lie back on this damn bed and do more than take her clothes off.
She was being stupid. Annoyed at herself, Jill lifted her arms.
He tugged the tank top off her and laid it on the bed. It was torn in the back and red with blood. He climbed onto the silk comforter behind her on his knees.
It annoyed her even more that the flush in her face was making her light headed. She actually started to tremble there on the bed which pissed her off. How old was she? What was it about him that made her feel about fifteen? She'd once stood in a cave buck naked while Chris treated eleven slashes from head to toe on her without breaking a sweat.
What was it about Leon Kennedy touching her that made her pant like a bitch in heat?
Christ, it was ridiculous.
Jill waited while he treated her back. She breathed slowly. She could feel his fingers on her skin. The first part burned, the second was soothing. He didn't even try to grope her. He didn't joke. He didn't do anything but quietly tend to her.
Jill glanced over her shoulder. "You ok?"
The bra she was wearing wasn't sexy. It was serviceable. It wasn't meant to inflame or excite or arouse. She was sore and bleeding. They were both dirty and tired and scared. There was nothing sexy happening here.
Nothing.
The sports bra she wore was meant to hold those brilliant breasts of hers in place so she could run and jump and fight. That was it. There was nothing here that should make him hard.
But he was hard. He was hard while he treated her back. It was shallow but painful, clearly. He tended it with a sigh of frustration. He was shallow and painful too. He was thinking of tonguing her tits when he should be thinking of saving his own stupid life. Ridiculous. The stupidity of it wasn't lost on him.
Jill tried again, "Leon?"
He shook his head.
Jill glanced at his face in the soft lantern light, "Don't clam up on me here, Kennedy. What's wrong?"
Her belly was smooth and taut and muscled. Her arms were finely capped with it. That little white sports bra she wore kept her breasts bond tightly to her narrow frame. Nothing sexy here. Nothing.
He taped the gauze to her wounded skin.
Jill tried once more, "What is it? Leon, what?"
His need for her fairly consumed him. It was STUPID. He was stupid. His IQ be damned. He knew it wasn't smart. It was stupid. But it didn't matter anymore. He had to touch her. It was that simple. Just a little. Just a little.
His hand brushed over the bound wound, securing it. And it kept on going. It slid up her back and eased the tail of her hair away from the back of her neck. Jill went very, very still. He heard her breath catch. He thought, wildly, "Don't do it." But he did it.
He pressed his lips to the back of her neck. Her skin pebbled with goosebumps. He shifted his forehead to her shoulder. He kissed the curve of her neck where it met her jaw.
She shifted on the bed and gripped his wrist.
He didn't even stop her. He just let her do it. She slid his hand up her chest and splayed it open against her bosom. He could feel the thunder of her heart that beneath that stupid, not sexy bra. His forehead shifted into the curve of her neck and shoulder. She turned her face and laid her cheek against his head.
It wasn't sexy. Shouldn't have been sexy. They were tired and scared and bleeding. They were cold and starving and ass deep in enemies. They were lost and dirty and desperately out numbered. There was no time for any of this. For any of that. Or to sit here in the danger zone and just…cling.
Her free hand shifted anyway. It slid against the side of his face. She turned him up to her. She shifted. He shifted. They brushed mouths together.
Jill made some kind of sound of need.
Jill? Not entirely. Him. He did it. He made some kind of sound of need for her. She echoed it.
Bad timing, he thought, so bad. Bad timing. Bad.
He shifted his hand to her chest. She guided it down and settled it over one excited nipple. There was NO TIME for groping in an infested castle. Nope.
His fingers dipped under the edge of the stupid sports bra and skimmed her cleavage. She gasped softly against him. She licked his mouth. He was pretty sure he was going to die on the spot.
He shifted his face and she rolled her shoulders back against him. Yeah, he thought, enough was enough here. Bad timing or not, he wanted to touch her and kiss her and they could be dead in an hour. So why not? Why? What the fuck man? Why not? Enough was enough here.
And he thought, fuck it, and used his whole hand to cup her. He slid his hand down into that bra and just...he touched her. His palm closed around one perfect breast and her mouth opened against his on a needy moan. She whispered, "Oh god."
And that sounded about right. He shaped her in his palm, feeling the answer of his thundering heart to the one that beat behind his rolling palm. Jesus. He didn't care if they both died right in that moment. He didn't care about the mission or Ashley Graham or saving the world. He just wanted to keep on touching her.
He nuzzled her face up with his and licked the seam of her lips again. Now, he thought, now was the worst time to kiss her. And he was going to do it. He was going to taste the wet cavern of her mouth. He didn't care. He was tired of caring about anything but her. He just wanted to know her flavor.
His voice was gruff and so low it dragged out of his chest like a curse, "Stop me, Jill."
And her breathy answer damned them both, "Not yet. Not yet."
He ground his forehead against her neck and cursed, "Fuck."
She couldn't think of anything else she'd rather do in that moment than fuck. Denying it was killing them both. Being mature, being professional, it was killing them both. Maybe they needed to just..let it out. Just a little. Just once. Purge the urge? Something.
She whispered, "Please."
Bad timing. And he just didn't care anymore.
He jerked her around toward him. She went easily, shifting onto the bed to join him. She walked on her knees until they were chest to chest. The mattress was soft and giving. She jerked his shirt from his pants and pulled, pushing her hands under it to paint his belly with her hands.
He tried again, low and desperate, "Stop me, Jill."
And she whispered, "Not yet. Please."
Yeah, he thought madly, not yet, please.
He grabbed her ponytail to tilt her face back to him and her hands grabbed his in response. She was dizzy with it. She pressed her mouth to his and rubbed, like a cat. Kiss me, she thought desperately, now. Kiss me now. His free hand slid down and jerked her hips toward him until they were smashed torso to torso.
Someone was panting. It was both of them. Naturally, it was both of them.
Jill speared her hands into his hair and twisted, drawing a small sound of need from him that inflamed her. Jesus, she thought, this is how she died – craving Leon Kennedy in a dirty castle while the bad guys waited to kill them. This is how the world ended – in need and blood and death and want.
She ground her mouth against his and made them both nuts with it. He grunted and whispered, "Open your mouth for me, Jill."
Jesus. She opened her mouth and waited for his tongue.
The door they'd come through rattled.
They froze, panting. They froze, flushed and lost in each other.
The door rattled again.
They both let go. Jill grabbed her top and jerked it on. Leon kept his gun on the door as she whipped on the jacket.
Jesus, she thought madly, this was what happened when you let emotion into a mission. You ended up groping Leon Kennedy on a bed in the middle of a castle filled with hostile infected. You ended up waiting for him to kiss you for the first time surrounded by the enemy. You let him play with your tits and lick your mouth and leave you breathless and wet while the bad guys beat at your door.
He was infected. Ashley was infected. And they were wasting time rubbing on each other like horny teenagers. God! She was so stupid. She was nuts for him. It was fucking her up in ways she couldn't even believe.
Jesus Christ in a miniskirt. They had to stop this shit.
The door opened and they were no longer alone.
A woman moved through the door and Leon grabbed her wrist, tugged, and threw her into the room with them. He jerked the pistol from her hands as she went. She rolled, reversed, and came up to find him at her throat with his knife.
They stared at each other from inches away.
Leon hit the release for her magazine and threw the pistol away while the clip bounced on the rug.
She was beautiful. She was tall, slender, Asian and wearing a dress that was red and elegant. Her ten feet of legs were happily paired with skinny ice-pick heels. She smiled sweetly from inches away.
He said, "A word of advice, princess, try using knives next time. Works better for close encounters."
She tugged off the little glasses she wore perched on her perfect nose and said, "Leon…long time no see."
Leon released her and stepped back, blinking in the semi-darkness. The surprise in his voice had Jill tilting her head to study them. "Ada?"
And the siren in red winked at him as she waited, patiently loving his shock. "So it would seem. You look good, Leon. Although I kinda miss the uniform."
Jill glanced at them and finally lowered her gun. Whatever else was true, this woman wasn't a threat to them. The woman in red looked over at her and lifted both brows.
And the look on that beautiful face wasn't entirely friendly.
Well, Jill amended silently, this woman wasn't a threat to HIM. She may still be one to her though. The look on that haughty face said she didn't like Jill being there. Maybe she would have liked even less the groping she'd interrupted. Most likely.
Oy.
Leon looked like someone had farted on his puppy or something. He kept shaking his head. "So the rumors are true?"
Ada tilted her head at him now, smirking. "Which ones?"
"You – workin with Wesker."
The name was enough to have Jill changing her mind about the gun. It came up again and the beautiful woman in red turned that gaze back to her. They eyed each other – two women: both beautiful, both deadly, and both having served at the hand of the corrupt former Captain of the S.T.A.R.S.
Ada shifted her eyes a little. She shrugged one perfect shoulder. "Rumors are often constructed by those who would see fit to tear another down, Leon. Never believe what you hear. Not entirely."
Leon shook his head at her again. "Damnit, Ada. Stop playing games. What are you doing here?"
Ada hadn't yet taken her eyes off Jill. Leon followed the line of her gaze and froze.
Jill had that gun trained on the other woman with a look on her face that scared him a little. It wasn't dispassionate. Ada looked bored by the whole exchange. But Jill?
She looked enraged.
Why?
Leon urged softly, "Jill, put it down. She's not going to hurt anyone here."
Jill actually laughed, mirthlessly, "Yeah she is. You workin with Wesker, Ada? I heard that about you. That you sold yourself to the highest bidder."
Ada tilted her head again, "I'm a mercenary. I go where the money is. We all do what suits us, Ms. Valentine. Let's not pretend we don't."
Jill arched one dark brow at her.
"Oh yes," Ada laughed a little now, "I know who you are. There is little I don't know. For instance, I'm aware of your history with Wesker. Let me caution you to be wise about how you pursue him. He is not…entirely what he once was. And he's determined to see the end of you."
Jill shrugged one gallant shoulder now. "He's tried before. He'll try again. I encourage it. Let him know I can hardly wait, won't you?"
Ada laughed a little again, eyes twinkling. She was, it seemed, impressed at the very least. She did have a weakness for a powerful woman and Jill Valentine had a reputation amongst those who served the good. She was a crusader for her cause, that much was true. But she had no idea whom she was seeking to end there. Wesker would not bow down to anyone, least of all a former protégé from Raccoon City. And revenge against him would have to wait for Jill Valentine because Ada still needed him. For now, her end game required his assistance.
Ada shifted her gaze back to Leon. "You're up against things you can't begin to understand here, Leon. And you're on borrowed time. Stop playing footsie and run. If you don't? You'll end up playing a game you'll lose. Forget the girl and get out of here."
Leon narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you doing here, Ada? What do you know?"
"Please," She laughed a little, "I'm not going to sigh and simper and show my secrets, Leon. You know me better then that. You think you can flash a sexy little smile at me and make me swoon? I'm doing you a favor here. I'm doing what I can to keep you alive while you play grab ass with the BSAA. But you're making my job harder by being stupid. You think you've seen the worst of it? You have no idea what Saddler can do. Go back to your puppet master and forget Ashley Graham. She's done. She's lost. She'll turn soon enough and you behind her if you don't."
"Damnit, Ada. Answer the question. What are you doing here?" He took a step toward her.
Ada glanced at Jill who echoed the move. Would they grab her and interrogate her? The idea was amusing.
And her little glasses beeped to let her know their time here was up.
Sighing, she said, "Don't be stupid here, Leon. See you around."
The world flashed white and bright and had them stumbling.
Ada took the initiative as the glasses erupted in a flash of light and rolled to her gun. She grasped it and ran for the door. Jill made a grab for her and Ada spun a low kick at her.
It spilled the other woman to her back on the bed. Ada laughed a little at her and taunted, "Stop trying to grab his ass and save his life…you stupid girl."
Leon cursed as Ada escaped out the window and was gone.
Jill rolled to her feet, breathing fast and low.
She couldn't even LOOK at him now. She'd been shamed by a spy. This is what her life looked like with Leon Kennedy in it. It was fighting and fleeing and trying to fuck him surrounded by death. Jesus Christ. It was being SHAMED BY ADA WONG. There was no greater defeat than that.
This is what it meant to let things get personal.
This is why she didn't. It's why she avoided it at all costs. She KNEW better.
He shifted and she stepped back from him.
Quietly, he cautioned her, "Don't, Jill. Don't."
Don't what? Don't what!? She shook her head. "She's right. She's RIGHT. What are we doing here, Leon!? What are we doing?"
And now they locked eyes in the quiet room.
He looked as lost as she did. He looked as confused and afraid and lost. It wasn't a good sign for them. It was a bad sign. Neither had answers.
He finally answered her, "I don't know. I don't know what's happening here. Maybe it's adrenaline. Maybe it's insanity."
"Maybe it's the damn parasite inside you."
He studied her face. That's what scared her the most here. It was all over her. She was afraid he wasn't himself. She was afraid he was turning into something else. He answered that fear, emphatically, "What's in me for you, Jill? That was there before this. That's all me."
Jill shook her head at him. She covered her face and breathed for a minute. "Ashley is out there waiting and we're here playing around like teenagers. Christ. We need to stop this. We're going to be grabbing each other's asses when you turn into one of those fucking things. I'm so busy trying to fuck you that it's going to get you killed. What is happening here!?"
She felt the air shift and knew he was right there. She whispered, "Don't." And it didn't matter anymore.
He peeled her hands away from her face and wrapped them around his neck. She didn't just spill against him, she made a sound of regret and clung. His arms wound around her waist and lifted her against his front until her feet dangled.
She buried her face against his neck and hung on.
He echoed it, breathing her in.
The hugging was worse somehow than the groping. It was so much worse. It wasn't just sex. It wasn't just attraction. It was something else and something so much harder to resist.
She was afraid she was in love with him. She was afraid of him. Because she'd never, ever, loved someone like that. She'd never let anyone, ever, get close enough to make her toss her carefully won professionalism and control into the fire and watch it burn. He was in there. He was in her. And she couldn't get him out anymore.
Infected? Yeah. She was infected. He was her fucking parasite. And it was going to kill them both.
Jill made a small sound and pushed away from him. "Stop. Stop. Please. I can't watch you die. I can't do that. We keep fighting this thing with us. We keep fighting it. But it's killing us like quicksand. We joke and we flirt, we run. We fight and cling and kill ourselves with the want of it. I keep on craving you like some kind of drug. Maybe...we just need to get away from each other…for a little while here."
"Don't, Jill. Don't." He tried to touch her again and she moved away from him.
"Leon…she's right. We're so stupid. We're so wrapped up in each other we're blind to what is happening here. You have to rescue that girl. You have to do your job. I have to do mine. I can't do that with you coiled in my guts like snakes. I keep trying to keep my hands off you and I can't." She shook her head, "I can't."
She sounded so desperate it scared him. He understood it. He felt the same. He couldn't do anything but think of her and want her and it was killing him. He didn't know what the right answer was here.
"Jill…just…you can't go off alone. I can't protect you if you go off alone."
She lifted her eyes to his face now. "Are you kidding here, Kennedy? How many times have I saved your ass tonight?"
He blinked now, watching her face in the shifting light. "I think it cuts both ways, kid."
Jill laughed a little, lost. "Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does. Jesus Christ. Ok. OK. Enough of this shit. Enough. We get Ashley. We get her back…and then I'll go. I'll go and find the cure. I'll do that. You get her out and I'll find the cure. That's how we do this."
Leon answered, gently, "The timing is bad here, Jill. It's bad. But look at me."
She shook her head, staring out into the dark beyond the window.
He grabbed her chin in his hand and surprised her. He jerked her face up to him. There was no humor on him now. There was no joking. There was an intensity that caught her breath. She liked it on him.
He intoned, low and commanding, "The timing is bad. But this? You and me? This isn't wrong. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm getting something right. I've spent a long time chasing bad guys and even longer fighting for the cause. You're the first god damn thing I've wanted for myself since it all started. The timing sucks here. It couldn't be worse. But I'm not sorry for it. Because I wouldn't trade what I feel about you for anything in the world."
Jill held his eyes with hers. Her tummy rolled. Her face flushed with it. She whispered, "How can I work with you when you say stuff like that to me?"
"I don't know. I don't have answers to any of it. But don't do that. Don't shut it down and pretend it's wrong. The timing is wrong. Yeah, it is. But not this. This is right." He dropped his forehead to hers and held. Eyes closed, they held…for just a moment. "Don't give up on me here. Ok?"
She made a small sound again. "Ok. Ok. Stop trying to make me want you."
And now he did laugh, just a little. "Ditto."
She whispered, softly, "Let's get Ashley and get the hell out of here."
"Sounds like the best plan I've heard in awhile."
Jill lifted her eyes to his face. They held there for just another moment and she murmured, "When this is done?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm probably going to rape you. I just thought you should be aware of that."
The need for her rolled and bled with the humor. His eyes twinkled from inches away. His thumb skimmed her mouth and stole her breath. "Fair enough. Just be gentle ok? I'm delicate."
She couldn't help the laugh that spilled desperately from her mouth. "Damnit, Leon Kennedy. Stop making me insane for you."
"Cuts both ways, Valentine. Cuts both ways." He brushed their mouths together and stepped back. She lifted a hand to press it where his lips had been and shivered.
She had to figure somewhere, Ashley was silently judging her.
And as she watched him move to the far door and ease it open, Jill knew she had to say it now before they moved on. She had to say it to make Ashley proud. It was time for that.
"I don't think I can put you down if you turn."
He froze and turned back to her. "What?"
"I can't do it. I can't. I'm sorry. I can't. I just wanted you to know that."
They held eyes. She shook her head a little. "Say something, Leon. Anything."
He stood silently, watching her and finally answered, "What can I say to that? I need you to get Ashley out of here. If I turn. If I go down, I need to be able to trust you do that Jill. You saying you can't?"
Yeah, she thought, make Ashley proud. "I'm saying I can't kill you. For anything."
And now he looked worried. "Why, Jill? Why? You know if I turn there'll be nothing left of me, right? It's mercy to end it. You can't give me mercy?"
The idea of it made her chest tight. He watched her eyes pearl with tears and it scared him. This kind of emotion scared him. The want of her, the need, it was there. It was heady. It wasn't this. Her face didn't say anything about raping him. Her face said something worse than that.
But her mouth said, quietly, "I can't. I can't give you mercy if you turn. I'm so so sorry. I can't."
Horrified by the idea of turning and existing, he breathed, "For god's sake…why!?"
And two fat tears spilled onto her cheeks, scaring him. He took a step toward her and she lifted a hand, shaking her head at him. He halted, undone.
She whispered now…and damned them both with it. "Haven't you figured that part out, Leon? Aren't you supposed to be a genius? I don't know if that's true. You have to know why. You have to know it. I'm in love with you."
And somewhere beyond the window, a rumble of thunder punctuated the perilous sky while the truth of her confession lay between them…and left nothing but silence behind.