Thea pushed open the wooden door with her free hand, the other aiming her pistol ahead. She couldn't trust any fucking door in this fucking village, always someone or something lurking behind it and giving her a heart attack.
She hated how now with every door in her way, she had to steel her nerves to push it open. She swore to kick down the next one she came across, hoping to scare anyone who waited on the other side. If the villagers found it funny to scare them, it was only fair if she gave it back. To fuck with politeness.
The brunette barely took two steps inside when Leon pushed her out of the way, taking the lead. It seemed like he was incapable of having a woman lead him anywhere and it boiled her blood. She wasn't a damsel in distress or some random woman who needed his protection. If anything, it was the other way around.
However, her fury was short-lived.
Just as Leon went to check out the door closest to their left and pushed the door open, he jolted back with a step. Thea's eyes widened with alertness as she tightened her grip around the pistol, but before she could even move a muscle, Leon had already pulled the trigger twice.
The sound of gunshots was followed by a loud thud, the body collapsing on the floor. Thea quickly stepped beside Leon, catching a glimpse of a bearded, middle-aged man lying with one wound on his chest, the other leaving a gaping hole in the middle of his forehead. The pale tiles of the small bathroom behind him got painted with his blood, weirdly darker than it should be.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she took a closer look at the man, she noted the pale complexion and bloodshot eyes of the man. All the village people sported a similar look and condition to him, making Thea wonder what was happening here.
"What happened to these people?" Thea asked softly, her eyes stuck on the man's face. It seemed like he was already dead for a day or two before Leon put a few bullets in him. It was disturbing, to say the least.
Leon ignored her question. Maybe because he had no idea, or he exactly knew who or what was responsible for it. Whatever it was, he chose not to share it with the girl squatting beside the body.
"Let's look around," he said instead, already turning on his heels and heading deeper into the massive house.
Thea stood up with a sigh, leaving the man in the little, barf-colored bathroom. She was eager to get out of there anyway.
As she followed Leon inside, she couldn't help a low whistle as she looked around. The house was indeed massive, and quite beautiful. Inside there was a huge kitchen and dining area, with a small couch positioned in front of a full-length window. The walls were a lighter shade of gray and the furniture was dark wood with some accents of burgundy and gold mixture on them. In the middle of the room, the dining table was already set with beautiful fine china, a bowl of fruit still waiting on the table.
The huge chandelier was a show-stopping piece, hanging above the table. It looked like dozens of beautiful crystals were hanging from the ceiling in all kinds of shapes and sizes.
A huge wooden staircase led upwards, and Thea was really interested in the second level. If the first floor looked so good considering the conditions of the village, she was curious to see how the owners did upstairs. However, her thoughts were shut down soon enough.
"I'll check upstairs, you stay here," Leon glanced at her, and before she could have the opportunity to argue, he was already taking two steps at a time as he hurried up.
"I hope you trip," Thea said to his back, but it didn't reach his ears.
Releasing a sigh, the girl turned around with her hands on her hips, looking around the ground level more. She wanted to imagine a happy family sitting together after a long day to enjoy a dinner together, but she struggled to form the picture in her head.
Maybe because she never had any of those. Thea had no idea how a normal family acted or what normal things they did. The realization made her frown and turn away from the dining table, not wanting to break her own heart even more.
Deciding to make herself useful, Thea walked up to one of the cabinets next to the window. It stored a few prized possessions like tea mugs too pretty to use and antique plates worth more than the depressing little hole she called home. Sometimes life just wasn't fair.
She hated to admit it, but the moment Leon left her, her life got a lot more boring. She already missed the thrill he gave her and how he managed to yank her straight into the weirdest shit. Being with him felt like her life clicked back into place. Like she knew him for a lifetime now.
Thea wouldn't admit it for the world, but she hated having him out of her sight. She knew she could handle herself and was more than capable of protecting herself. He seemed to be doing great so far, but she couldn't help feeling restless when he was away. Anything could happen. Anything could rip him out of her grasp and she wasn't ready for that. She just got him back.
Blinking away the weird feeling forming in her chest, Thea reached forward and ran her fingers along a leather book. It was rather simple but a small gold chain hanging from it caught her eye. The young woman picked up the book, it weighing more than anticipated as she sized it up in her hand.
With a swift motion, she opened up the book right where the golden chain bookmark sat and let her eyes rake through the small letters inside.
Illuminados 4:3
In great veneration of their master, the people offered up their most prized possessions.
The old farmer, his finest crop.
The slight swineherd, his stoutest pig.
The beggarly grandam, her own beloved babe.
The master saw these gifts and was pleased.
Thea had to read the small paragraph again, failing to understand it more the second time. She hoped to find a cute romance novel or a historical piece wrapped in leather, not some weird cult shit.
Who the fuck in their right mind would offer up their baby for some master? It was so fucked up, the girl didn't even want to read any more of whatever the fuck she just found.
Just as swiftly as she opened the book, she closed it right back up and dropped it on the hard surface of the little cabinet. Her hands felt weird after touching the weird book so she wiped her hands against her pants, the leather material doing nothing to make things better.
Maybe Leon was right. She shouldn't have come in leather pants. But she wasn't some psychic to see into the future – she couldn't have known she was going to fight through mud and blood upon her arrival.
She hoped to meet him in the little village, him doing some village shit people did around here. Walking sheeps or something, she didn't fucking know. But things weren't going as planned in any aspect.
So, here she was in her leather pants that in fact, made her butt look amazing so Kennedy could fuck right off with his judgemental ass. She didn't come here on a mission like he did. She was just here to talk and got pulled into shit. But at least she looked great committing mass murder with the only person she gave a fuck about. Or whatever.
Walking around some more, the brunette hoped to find some bullets at least, maybe a knife she could use. She lost most of her weapons during the landing and only managed to retrieve her trusty shotgun at the price of a lot of dead bodies. But she got it back, so it was a win in her books. The only downside was that she was starting to run out of bullets so she needed an alternative weapon.
Going off by Leon's gear, she needed to find a good knife first. She noticed how he used his combat knife during close combats the most, even turning for its grace when he ran out of bullets. A good, trusty knife managed to save his life multiple times now, so maybe she should have one, too. It couldn't hurt.
Rummaging through the drawers, she only found some cutlery that was nowhere near usable as possible weapons. With the dull knives, she doubted she could even cut a piece of bread, let alone someone's throat.
Through one of the windows, Thea spotted a small wooden shed outside. Maybe there could be something she could use as a weapon.
Going outside felt wrong, though. She didn't like the distance she just made bigger between her and Leon. Call it a gut feeling, but she just sort of knew something was off, she just couldn't pinpoint what. Since she didn't know what it was, Thea pushed the feeling down and ignored it. Everything's fine.
Luckily, someone didn't bother to lock the shed and she could easily swing open the wooden doors. The shy amount of sunlight filtering through the thick grey clouds shone inside the shed, presenting her... nothing.
There was absolutely nothing inside. The whole shed was empty beside a broken broom.
Thea wanted to scream in frustration and pull apart the whole place. How can a shed be so useless? Especially one that belongs to such a nice house, considering the other homes here. It blew her mind. Everything about this fucking place was wrong.
Just as she was ready to lash out at the closest thing in her reach when she heard it.
Gunshots. Coming from inside.
Her heart dropped to her stomach as her head whipped around, eyes scanning the house.
"Leon?" Thea called out, and before she could even think she was already darting towards the back door, running back inside the house.
The first thing she noticed was the main double doors, swung open and moving gently with the current flowing through the house. One of the handles got torn and thrown on the carpet, the metal bent oddly. Thea's pulse quickened and without a question, she darted up the stairs.
Adrenaline and power buzzed through her veins, the familiar warmth spreading through her body as she felt herself get stronger, faster, deadlier. Her legs pushed her faster than normal through the narrow hallway, coming to a halt at the only door opened.
Her long, dark hair flew in her face by the abrupt stop, her hand coming to flick it away in a swift motion. Her emerald green eyes practically glowed as her gaze jumped all over the room, searching for any threat. But she only found the person her heart started beating stronger.
Inside the bedroom, there was Leon, leaning against the bedpost for support. Her eyes found his gun lying on the ground and noted the off-balance painting and broken vase behind him. Judging by the pained grimace on his face, she concluded he got thrown into the wall.
Not to even mention the bullet shells littered on the hard floor and the broken window on the side.
"What the fuck happened?" Thea asked, the usual edge missing from her voice.
"I, uh-" Leon's voice was slightly hoarse, a hand reaching to rub against his neck. The girl pressed her lips together tightly, waiting for his answer. "I don't know. It's hard to explain."
Thea just blinked at him, at a loss for words. She opened her mouth to spit the million questions she had, but eventually closed it without any of it leaving her lips. It became clear that they were not safe anywhere anymore, and she blamed herself partly for it.
Only if she would've stayed inside, maybe she could've helped. She could've killed the bastard that had the balls to come after them and try to kill one of them. But at least maybe she was able to scare them off before harming him further.
"Are you okay?" Thea's voice was softer than ever, the buzz in her veins subduing when their eyes connected.
It was probably the first time Leon had looked at her like was more than a weird stranger to him. It made her some type of way, a way that was unfamiliar territory to her. And Thea despised the unknown, the deepest lying fear of it making her insides churn.
"Yeah," Leon nodded, stumbling towards his gun. With a low grunt, he leaned down to pick it up, a hand pressed against his abdomen. Fury blossomed in her chest at the sight, hating every bit of it. Then, she hated herself even more.
Why did she even care that much?
"You?"
Not trusting her tongue to speak the right things, Thea only nodded as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Sometimes, when she felt sparks of feelings she couldn't explain or pinpoint, it made her head swim. She was so confused by so many things, it caused her a headache most of the time; she didn't need unwanted, weird little feelings on top of it all. Her life was chaotic and weird enough as it was, she didn't want to deal with thoughts and feelings she didn't understand.
"Let's go," Thea nodded towards the stairs, taking the lead this time.
And for the first time, Leon let her have this one.