Aaaand... chapter 9. I'm sooo sorry for not updating sooner! I've just been super busy with STAAR tests and yadayadayada... you get it. But the good news is that I'll be updating up to chapter 15 today to make up for my absence! Yay! Now without further ado... the long awaited chapter 9.. Enjoy!

Leon and I were almost back to the village, but not yet. Right now we were walking through the house I had met the merchant in. The agent held up his hand, silently telling me to wait, while he checked the hallways. I nodded and he began pushing the door open as slowly as possible.

"Jeez, you take ten years to open a freaking door." I said, annoyed.

He rolled his eyes and pushed the door open a little more and stopped. There were voices coming from downstairs. He carefully stepped out into the hall when someone violently grabbed him by the neck, and held him in the air, chocking him. I watched in horror as the man I recognized as the tall man from before chocked Leon until he was kicking and turning blue from lack of oxygen.

I couldn't take it anymore; I shoved the door open and kicked the guy in the shin, doing no damage what-so-ever. At least it got him to look at me.

"Stop!" I screamed. "Please, don't hurt him!"

Everyone was silent, except for Leon, who was making gagging sounds. Then, the big man threw Leon down on the ground, brought his hand up, and slapped me. Hard. The sound was loud, and I fell back onto the floor from the force of it. Leon's eyes grew wide with shock and hatred for the man as I clutched my cheek in pain. The man smirked at me and turned to Leon.

"You carry the same blood as us, it seems. Never the less, you're an outsider. Just remember, if you become unpleasant to our eyes, you'll both face severe consequences." He then turned around, and entered the bedroom.

As soon as he left, Leon quickly stood up and rushed over to me.

"Are you alright? Does it hurt?" He asked. "Let me see."

I turned my face to the side, letting Leon get a better look at my now swollen cheek.

"Yeah… it looks pretty bad. There's definitely going to be a bruise. Here…" He pulled out a can of First Aid Spray, and was about to spray it when I placed my hand over his and stopped him.

"No. You can't keep wasting all of that stuff on me, I'm fine, really."

He looked at the red hand print on my cheek, and then at my eyes. I held his gaze, letting him know I was serious, until he put the can away.

"Wait here." He commanded and stood up.

I copied him. "Why? What are you doing?" I inquired worriedly, but I had an idea of his intentions.

"Just stay here."

Not even a second had gone by before I heard struggling, and a gunshot. I sat down, not wanting to go in there, not wanting to be any more of a bother to Leon, but not wanting him to get hurt either. All of the sudden, two steady gunshots went off, and there was a loud crashing sound. I quickly stood up and ran into the room to find Leon gazing intently out the broken window as if he were in another world.

I approached him carefully, not wanting to startle him. "A-are you okay?"

He turned around looking confused at first, but then assuring and said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

Then, Leon's walkie-talkie went off again.

"Leon, I've been able to get some now info that might help you." Hunnigan stated.

"Fill me in."

"Apparently there's a religious cult group involved. They're called the Los Illuminados."

"Los Illuminados? That's a mouthful…"

"It means The Illuminati." I explained.

The man thought for a second before continuing. "Anyway… we had an unexpected run in with the 'big-cheese' of this village, Bitores Mendez."

"But you're okay, right?" She asked.

"Yeah… but he could've killed me, but he let me live… And he mentioned something about me carrying the same blood as them. Whatever that means."

"'Carry the same blood'… Hmm… Interesting…"

"Anyway, there are more important things than solving riddles right now." Leon stated.

"You're right. Hurry and find that church, Leon."

While Leon was talking to Hunnigan, I was snooping around the room. I found a key that had some kind of bug-looking thing on the top of it, like the door back in the village.

When Leon hung up, I turned to him and said, "Hey Leon, look at what I found."

He took the key from my hands and examined it. "Hmm… Maybe this opens the door back in the village…"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

He looked back up at me and then said, "Come on, let's go."

We walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs. There was a painting on the wall of a church, and Leon said something about Ashley. Who was this chick? Was she his girlfriend or something? Not that it mattered to me who he was dating…

In the kitchen, there was an egg in the oven. An egg in the oven. What the hell is wrong with these people? It wasn't even cracked or anything, it was just sitting there!

After searching through the rest of the house, and taking whatever we needed, we walked through the back door and were greeted by the sounds of a chainsaw.

Acting on impulse, we both shot volleys of bullets into the guy's chest, because, somehow, the paper bag was protecting his head. Yeah, I know right? Eventually we shot the guys legs, making him fall to the ground. Once he was dead, Leon and I continued down the beaten path, shooting who ever got in our way, until we came upon the door that led back to the village.

"Well, this is it…" I said quietly.

He nodded and opened the door.

There were a few more people in the village, but not many. We took them all down easily. Once the village was cleared, we walked up to the door with the huge, red, bug-looking thing on it. Leon took out the key we found and put it in the lock, and the door opened.

This room was medium sized and had a nice looking table, and a chandelier above it in the far, right corner. I wondered what they used it for…

The neighboring room was used as some sort of storage. There was a single red lantern hanging on the ceiling, and a trap door in the back.

Just as we began walking, the lantern fell and flames went everywhere.