Fighting against the horde of cultists, Ashley took cover behind Leon while Gwen handled the robed men to their right. The blonde used his new handgun, easily killing any man who dared to approach him.
The archivist used the blade she found on the first floor against the men. She decapitated a few cultists with the silver sword, smirking as she did so. "Who knew a sword would be more handy in this situation than a gun." She sliced the arm off a man who tried to swing his flail, but he didn't scream out in pain. The stoic expression on his face didn't change as his arm fell to the floor. "Wow, I would applaud you for taking that like a man, except any normal human would be screaming right about now if their arm was cut clean off."
Leon glanced to his right for a split second, checking on Gwen to see if she needed any assistance. She caught his gaze and sent him a reassuring smile as she swept the blade at the oncoming cultists, slicing off a few legs. Their bodies toppled over like dominos before vanishing.
One man swung his flail at Gwen as she held the silver blade up. The spiked ball and chain wrapped around the blade and the cultist yanked it out of her hand. The weapon clattered to the floor and before she could grab her pistol, another man snuck up behind her and hoisted her body over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing. "Hey, you bastard!" She tried to grab the pistol strapped to her thigh, but she couldn't reach it in her current position. "Dammit! Leon!" She shouted desperately as the man descended the steps.
"Gwen!" Leon shouted as he watched her being carried away. He looked behind him and saw the frightened Ashley. "Stay close." The blonde pushed through the men, killing the ones that got too close for comfort. Ashley grasped onto the back of his shirt as he made his way through the horde and down the steps just as Gwen was being carried out of the door.
Before the door closed, Gwen latched onto the doorframe with her nails digging into the wood. She glared over her shoulder at the man as he tugged on her body to try and pry her hands from the wood. "You've got another thing coming if you think I'll let you take me anywhere, you son of a bitch!"
Leon's path was obscured by a man in a red robe and goat skull. He shot him in the chest multiple times, but his bullets caused a change in the cultist's body. His head exploded and a parasite emerged, taking control of its host. By the shape and color, Leon knew it was a different parasite than what the villagers are infected with. He took a few steps back as the man approached them, shooting at the parasite. A few bullets later, the organism exploded and the cultist's body crumpled to the floor.
"Leon, hurry!" Gwen shouted as her fingers were growing weak from the death grip she had on the doorframe. The splinters from the wooden frame dug under her nails as she desperately tried to keep the man from carrying her away.
Leon fires a single round into the man's back, resulting in him dropping Gwen. She crawled away from the cultist and grasped her pistol, shooting him in the head. The bullet resulted in his head to explode, which made the archivist quite jubilant. She glanced over her shoulder to see Leon taking care of the remaining men descending the steps. He sighed heavily as he holstered his gun before rushing over to his girlfriend, concern written all over his face. "Are you hurt?"
Gwen shook her head, pulling a splinter from under her thumb. "No. I'm fine. The villagers try to kill me because I'm cursed in their eyes, but the cultists here try to capture me. What the hell is going on here?"
"Not sure, but I've a feeling we're close to finding the answer to that question." Leon helped her up, gripping her smaller hands in his larger ones tightly. "You're reckless, you know that?"
Gwen's lips quirked up into a smirk. "I don't think either one of us has room to blame who's the reckless one in this relationship. We're kinda tied for first place in the 'who's the most reckless' category."
Ashley cleared her throat to grab the couple's attention and bring them back to reality. "We need to find a way out of this place. What're we going to do?"
"Continue searching the second floor. That's all we can do at the moment," Leon responded.
"I did see another sword hanging on the wall. You think it could be another puzzle?" Gwen pondered.
"Only one way to find out."
Leon, Gwen, and Ashley head back to the second floor and grab the golden sword. Since there were only two swords, the midnight-haired woman decided to switch the blades. Grabbing the silver sword, she placed it where she found the golden one. Then, she headed down the stairs and placed the golden one in the silver's place.
Leon and Ashley watched as the wall the silver sword hung on retracted and revealed a hidden door. Gwen made her way back to them, her boyfriend smiling at her as he placed a hand on top of her head. "That's my girl."
Gwen rolled her eyes in amusement. "I literally just switched the blades. It wasn't really a puzzle."
"But you still solved it without needing our help. You should officially become my partner when we return to D.C."
"Eh, I'll have to think about it. I'm still in love with my job as an archivist and right now, this mission is just showing me how much I'd hate to be an agent 24/7. I don't know how you do it, Leon."
"How long have you been an agent, Gwen?" Ashley curiously wondered.
"Since this mission began. I don't have the training that Leon has. The only things I know how to do are record events and bury my nose in a good book. Oh, and I'm really good at organizing things."
"You can't be serious. I mean, I don't know you that well, but you'd make a great agent with all that I've seen," Ashley compliments the woman with a gentle smile.
"Thanks, Ashley, but I don't think being an agent is my style. It certainly suits Leon, though," Gwen giggled, smacking said man on the arm playfully. She squeezed his upper arm, feeling how toned it truly was. "You truly have become a beefcake. You were pretty much a limp noodle six years ago."
"Yeah, well," Leon started, wrapping his arm around her waist and resting his hand against her hip. "You fell in love with that limp noodle." He traced his fingers up her hip and across her stomach. Gwen tittered at the ticklish sensation and promptly clamped a hand over her mouth. Leon leaned down and whispered in her ear. "You're still ticklish, huh?"
"A-Anyway! Let's see what's behind door number one. Or in this case, the only door." Gwen separated herself from Leon and pushed open the red door. The trio found themselves back outside in front of the main entrance to the castle.
"Leon! Gwen!" A familiar voice called out to the agents. Turning around, they spotted their friendly Spaniard.
"Luis," Leon responded.
"I've got something for you guys." Luis pats his vest then runs his hands across his pants. His eyes widened in shock as he couldn't find what he was searching for. "Uh... What?! Oh, shit!" He glanced back at the door he'd walked through. "I must have dropped it when I was running away from them."
"Dropped what?" Ashley questioned.
"A drug that'll stop your convulsions. Look, I know you are carriers. You've been coughing up blood, right?" Luis asked, eyeing Leon.
The blonde was silent before answering. "... Yeah."
Luis turns his gaze to Ashley. "And you?"
The blonde girl nodded with a frown. "Yes."
"Damn it! The eggs have hatched. We don't have much time." The Spaniard eyes Gwen as she stood closely to Leon. "Gwen, you must have injected as well. How are you feeling?"
"Perfectly fine."
"Were you not injected?" Luis questioned.
"I was, but after we escaped, I wasn't feeling well. I vomited and ended up excreting the egg from my body. That was the only time I threw up blood."
"Is it... because of your blood?" The Spaniard asked.
Gwen nodded. "Yes. Even Saddler said I denied his "gift." That was also when I learned my blood could be used against the parasites."
Luis was even more intrigued. Though he had heard her explanation in the house back in the village, he couldn't hide his amazement. "Fascinating. Is there a possibility I could get a sample?"
"Yeah. Hold on." Gwen reaches into her pocket and pulls out a single vial of silver blood. "Here."
Luis accepted the vial with a grateful smile. "Gracias, princesa." He slid the vial into his own pocket. "I have to go back and get what I lost."
The Spaniard turns his back to them and leaves, but Ashely stops him. "Let me come with you."
Luis stopped, glancing over his shoulder at the girl. "No, you stay here with Leon. He is better with the ladies. I'm sure of it because of the angel that walks beside him," he said, his eyes falling upon Gwen.
"Why are you-" Leon tried to question the man.
"It makes me feel better. Let's just leave it at that," Luis interrupts, waving farewell before disappearing.
The trio turned their attention to the entrance and walked to the grand doors. When they didn't budge, Gwen felt anger bubble in her veins. "Seriously..."
"There's another door this way," Ashley said.
"Guess we'll need a key," Leon stated.
They passed through the door and immediately ambushed by several cultists. Using the explosive barrels to their advantage, they were able to kill most of the robed men. One of the remaining cultists stood on a perch, firing flaming bolts from a crossbow. Gwen grabbed the knife from her boot and threw it. The blade pierced his chest, the man screaming as his body toppled over the edge. She ran over to the man and finished the job by yanking the knife out of his chest and stabbing him directly through the skull. Blood splattered across her face from the quick puncture before the body disintegrated. She wiped the blood speckles off her face before turning around to face Leon and Ashley. "I'll check this room. You both check that one. Hopefully, the key is in one of them."
Gwen searched the room at the end of the corridor and had found exactly what she needed to open the doors. As she scavenged the room further, she had found some ammo and a note on top of a crate. She picked up the piece of paper and read the short memo.
*****
The Americans have infiltrated the castle. Capture the girl and the moon goddess. Kill the male agent.
*****
The woman's brows furrowed in confusion. "Who the hell is the moon goddess?" She figured it referred to her since Ashley was the girl and the male agent was clearly Leon, but it still puzzled her why she was referred as such.
The door to the room opened with a creak. Leon entered the room with Ashley behind him. "Find anything, Gwen?"
"Uh," the archivist places the piece of paper down. "Yeah. Here's the key."
Leon spotted the note, but he decided to not question it as they couldn't waste anymore time. "Alright. Let's go."
<-----------<<<<<<<<<<<
"Wow," Gwen gasped. "This place is pretty nice. Too bad it's overrun by bloodthirsty cultists." The group meander into the main hall of the castle, admiring the interior.
Menacing cackling resounded throughout the main hall. Leon and Gwen snapped their heads in the direction of the sound, spotting two robed individuals and a short man on a balcony that overlooked the main hall. "I was starting to wonder when you might notice us."
"Who are you?" Leon growled, glaring at the man.
"Me llamo Ramon Salazar, the eighth Castellan of this magnificent arcitecture. I have been honored with the prodigous power from the great Lord Saddler. I've been expecting you, my brethren," the man chuckled.
Leon's glare sharpened as he took a single step forward. "No thanks, bro."
"My my, we've got a feisty one. If you care for your own well-being, I suggest you surrender yourself and simply... become our hostage. Or, Mr. Scott, you can give us the girl and our goddess, since you're not worth a penny, I'm afraid. You can die."
Salazar turned on his heels to leave, but Gwen shouted at him. "Hold on!" The short man glanced over his shoulder as she continued. "What do you mean by "moon goddess"?"
"Ah, yes." Salazar turned back around and peered down at the midnight-haired woman. "You are a special woman, Miss Sparrow. I have... negotiated with Lord Saddler and he wishes to utilize your blood instead of annihilating you. With blood the color of the moon, we will use it to our advantage and no longer will it be seen as poison. You will be treated as a goddess and rule beside Lord Saddler." Cackling loudly, the man left with his bodyguards.
Gwen clenched her hands into fists, teeth gritted as anger bubbled in her veins. She watched as a stone wall raised, blocking their path. She took a single step forward as a hand wrapped around her wrist. Leon spun her body around and pulled her closer. The young woman chewed on her bottom lip as she stared into his crystalline eyes. "It's happening all over again..."
Leon's hands traveled to Gwen's cheeks, cradling them gently. "I'm not going to let them have you, alright?" He leaned down and rested his forehead against hers, staring deeply into her dazzling sapphire eyes.
The young woman nodded. She unclenched her hands with a sigh. "Right now, we need to find a cure for you and Ashley."
"What about your blood?" Ashley inquired. "It's poison to the eggs inside us, right? We could try and see if it'll kill the eggs."
Gwen's eyes widened at Ashley's proposition. "Why didn't I think about that earlier?" She pulled away from Leon and searched her pockets for two vials. She grabbed them and the injection gun. Placing one vial into the cartridge, the woman heard a small clicking sound that notified the glass bottle was snuggly in place. She held it up, smiling at the two blondes. "So, who's first?"