-10-

Bite the Bullet

Chloe and Sully looked behind them to see the doors of the church crumbling. There was no way back in for them. They had never felt so helpless. Nate was going to die and there wasn't a damn thing they could do about it.

"Goddammit!" Chloe cursed loudly, grabbing her head in fury.

"Chloe, you've got to calm down a little." Sully told her.

"Calm down!? Are you mad!?" she screamed. "That bitch just shot Nate, Victor! He's in there alone and he's going to die!"

"No he's not." a voice said from ahead of them. Neither of them had weapons on them so they raised their hands.

From the shadows ahead came Vergil. He didn't have hiss weapon drawn and didn't seem to be a threat to them. The mask was removed from his face from earlier. He had bright green eyes and full lips. It was shocking to see the kindness in his face.

"Listen, kid we have had more than enough goddamn trouble today. We don't have anything you want so why don't you just report back to that bitch you call your leader?" Sully told him. He wasn't in the mood for this bullshit.

"No, I'm done reporting to her. I'm...done with all of that." Vergil told them. "I want to help you—really." he walked closer, holding his hands up as well.

"You can't expect us to believe that do you?" Chloe said angrily.

"What can I do to prove it?" he asked.

"Well, you can start by throwing that AK away from your reach." Sully said, still feeling like this kid was out of his gourd.

Without hesitation, Vergil took the AK from behind him and tossed it to the floor. There were no other visible weapons on him. "Satisfied?" he asked, growing tired of their suspicion.

Chloe walked up to him slowly and looked at him for a moment. A second later she pulled back and punched him hard across the face. "You asshole!" she yelled down to him, now that he was on the floor.

Vergil grabbed his jaw and opened his mouth to loosen it up from the hit. "Guess I deserved that." he admitted, getting back on his feet.

"You said Nate wasn't alone in there. Who's in there with him?" Sully asked.

"That blonde girl...Elena was it?" he answered. "The one that was trapped with the old man here."

"Watch it." Sully glared at him.

"How did she get freed?" Chloe asked him next.

"I let her go." Vergil explained. "When Adelle took the old ma—err...that man there to bargain with Drake, I talked with her and let her go."

"Why would you do something like that? You know Adelle will order a hit on you for this." Chloe warned him.

Vergil sighed. "Probably. But I don't care. I'm sick of taking orders from someone like that. I don't have it in me to kill. Never have. The money was decent and I had some debts to pay off. But I'm finished with all of that." A few moments of silence passed before he spoke again. He didn't blame them for being cautious. "Look, I will tell you all you want to know and more, but first we need to get you out of here."

"He's got a point." Sully admitted, much as he hated it.

"Right, we need to meet up with Adelle. If she gets her hands on that statue it'll be our asses." Chloe said. "But..." she began, still worrying about Nate and if he would be okay.

Vergil placed a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be okay. I've met that guy. He's too stubborn to die." he told her. "I guarantee he will meet us wherever Adelle is, but until then we need to stall her."

Chloe scoffed and pulled her arm away. "Fine." She then turned to him with fury. "But I won't hesitate to punch your ass back to Italy if you betray us. Got it?"

Vergil raised his hands again in defeat. "Hey, I have a glass jaw. I wouldn't risk messing up this pretty face like that." he said with a wink and a click of the tongue.

"Jesus." Chloe said, rolling her eyes. Then they all headed to the boat Adelle had left there.

Sully took a cigar from his pocket and lit it. "This is going to be a loooooong trip." he said to himself. But before he left he took a drag from his cigar and looked back to the church. "Hang in there, kid. Don't know what I'd do without ya."

XXX

Deep within the church, Elena was nervous to begin her work. "Nate, I'll try and make this be as quick as possible.

"Now this...really feels like a date." he joked. It made him feel good to see Elena smile at him.

"Shut up." she said, her smile quickly fading.

"Yes ma'am." he said, placing the black leather belt in his mouth and biting down hard, bracing himself. He removed his hand from the wound.

Elena looked down to see the wound bleeding badly. It was hard for her to see the bullet through all the blood, but she saw a faint glint. "Oh, Nate..." she said softly to herself. She couldn't imagine how horrible and agonizing this was.

"Do you...see it?" Nate said through his teeth.

"Yeah. Try and stay as still as you can." she told him. Nate just nodded in response. From there, she took the clip and inserted it into the bullet hole. She saw Nate arch his back slightly and scream through the belt in his mouth.

"Okay, okay, okay!" she said over and over, trying to ease the shaking in her hands. "I have a grip on it. Just a little longer." she said in a soothing voice. She knew she had to hurry, his blood was getting all over her hands.

She pulled the bullet out slowly, to make sure pieces didn't break off as she extracted it. Nate's screams filled her ears, she could tell he was holding it back as much as he could. What felt like an eternity later, she finally was able to get the bullet out. As soon as she did, she applied pressure to stop the bleeding.

"It's over..." she said, stroking his hair softly. "It's over."

Nate spit the belt from his mouth and began to feel his body relax. "Jesus." he said in a pained voice, his breathing becoming softer. "Thank you, Elena...thank you."

"Just doing my job." she smiled at him. "You did great."

"So did you." he said softly. He placed his hand behind her head and pulled her to his face and kissed her. Elena didn't resist. She gave in for this moment. His kiss is what she had longed for again for so long. It was better than she remembered. Then the memories of the pain he caused her came rushing back and she broke the kiss, as much as she didn't want to. "You should uh...try and get some sleep. You've been through a lot. I'll keep watch." she said.

Nate knew the reason she pulled away and didn't blame her. He was surprised she even kissed him back in the first place. "Yeah...I won't be out too long. Wake me up if you need me, alright?" Elena nodded in response and he closed his eyes. It seemed like a matter of seconds before he was out.

Elena just looked over him, wiping tears from her face.