Together: A Dark Romance Duet || Leon Kennedy x Female Reader

Chapter 21: FMC

My last shred of hope obliterates into a fine mist.

I scream down into the fathomless pit, letting my tears follow as I try to make sense of everything that's happened since we willingly walked into this nightmare. Every thought is murky. The only clarity I find comes from the replay of Leon falling to his death. But my next thought comes without warning, a strike that has me reaching out to that darkness again as I will it to take form.

I'll jump.

I'll abandon my ridiculous plan and follow him down, despite not knowing if I will join him alive or dead. All that matters is that he's with me—that he's okay.

Cold, bony hands grip my arms, yanking me away from those thoughts, away from where I watched the only one that matters to me now disappear in seconds. I thrash against their hold, screaming out my resistance as I'm dragged away from the pit. Tears blur my vision, but through the mist, I make out a set of gleaming red eyes staring at me from across the pit, unnaturally still.

In the red haze of the lit torches, I see that repulsive creature—the one that lifted Leon so effortlessly and threw him away like nothing. Another mindless monster created by these sick people.

I pull away from the hooded figures, but their grip on me tightens, keeping me still while my hands are forced behind my back. Cold metal clicks over my wrists, binding me, marking me as their prisoner once again.

Dark rivers of plague run under my skin as I feel that life inside me strengthen. Soon, I will be just like them— stronger, even. The only good thing that offers is the hope that I will be strong enough to rip them all apart.

Measured steps clack against the stones, a set of dark, polished loafers stopping before me. "Now, now, my dear. There is no reason for you to fight now that your beloved is no more."

Ramón stares down his nose at me like I'm filth, like he can't bare to get too close to me in this state. My ass is planted on the stones, blood caking on my face and splattered on my clothes. I try to gain some semblance of dignity by clearing the sorrow from my face, ceasing the flow of my tears, and replacing this hollow feeling with cold hatred.

"Fuck you," I throw out the words like a punch, but it only serves to amuse.

His rouge-tinted lips spread wide, grinning to show off yellowing teeth on the cusp of rotting. He stands with a gap between us, but up this close, he's even more unsettling. Something about him doesn't seem entirely human; his diminutive stature goes at odds with his gray hair and wrinkled face, not quite a man or child. Glowing yellow orbs scrutinize me, and in those eyes, I see the monster lurking underneath as if his body is just a vessel. My skin crawls the more I observe.

"Vulgar words for a lady," he muses in that high voice. "And such audacious behavior you display for a young girl who weeps in the absence of her savior."

I imagine squeezing my hands around his little throat. Still, I try not to let my anger show.

"That was quite a show you two put on in my chamber—rutting like animals even when death follows you."

My cheeks heat in shame, but I own it. Yes, we fucked in the open for anyone to see. But Leon claimed me as his, for everyone to know. He helped me understand what it means to be truly unafraid in the face of death, to be twisted enough to want to survive this. I can't cower now in the face of our enemy; I need to make Leon proud to call me his. I know Ramón intends to degrade me, but there's only one man I'll allow that from.

I remain silent, stone-faced, and still.

"It's kind of you, to let Mr. Kennedy use you like a toy. It's only fair, after he's traveled here, risked his life to save you." Ramón steps closer, tilting forward to sneer at me as he says, "Tell me dear: will you be as easily swayed to join us as you were to fall on your back for him?"