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“I don’t know much of his history, what’s true or what he lied about,” sighed Circé. “There were rumors that some new tech, allowing one to erase or modify someone’s memories, had been released on the Black Market a few years ago, and it had been tested on young people by the cruelest Zodiacs... I wouldn’t be surprised if Warlock had gone through that shit too.”
Eden couldn’t help but feel disgusted. She had always been wary of the Zodiacs, all of them. Now that she had an insight into Loir’s history, she could understand why some people would hide in a basement for life rather than risk crossing paths with the wrong kind of people...
“This is so sad... Wait, I need a tissue... Oh, and a pizza!”
Eden chuckled. At least Loir was alive and more or less still optimistic in his own world... She and Circé moved to get to a new set of stairs, going down, hopefully back to the ground floor, at last. She had only heard gunshots and orders shouted on Dante’s side for a while, and didn’t dare disturb him or ask where he was. She was afraid she’d disturb him at a critical moment, or seem too concerned.
Circé suddenly took out two of her deadly hair pins to hold in each hand and Eden nodded. She had heard it too. Footsteps on the other side of the wall... From the way they moved, they were highly trained. Both women waited, not even daring to ask Loir what was going on... Eden rolled her eyes as she could hear him loudly chew and slurp.
Suddenly, gunshots resonated on the other side. Circé and Eden were about to walk in, but they jumped down to take cover instead, one second before several dents appeared on the wall they had stood against. Now, there was clearly a fight happening on the other side. The gunshots weren’t stopping, men were shouting, and even explosions followed. The two women were both lying on their stomachs and covering their heads, waiting for the next opportunity to do something. Circé glanced over at Eden.
“Any ideas?” she muttered on her lips.
Before Eden could come up with anything favorable, the lights suddenly went out.
Everything became dark and Eden remembered there weren’t any windows around to begin with. They were in complete darkness.
“Loir...?”
“Stay down, Kitty! The fireworks are about to start! Woohoo!”
Indeed, another huge explosion resonated and more gunfire resumed. This time, several of the bullets actually pierced the wall, falling around them with a loud metallic clatter. There was no way to know who was shooting at who, which was one of Eden’s worst nightmares. Being caught in the gunfire, with nowhere to retreat. She could only wait for it to pass and hope no one would notice the two women hidden on the other side of that wall...
While she raised her head, she noticed Circé trying to crawl away, toward the stairs. Eden wanted to tell her to stop and stay next to the wall, but she couldn’t. It was way too dark, and she couldn’t risk speaking in case she spoke at the wrong moment and someone else heard. Hence, Circé disappeared from her very limited field of vision, with one last glimmer of her hairpins. Eden grimaced and had to wait a bit longer as the gunshots were still going. It was much more scattered, which meant most of the battle was over already. Whoever was left was shooting the remaining enemies, or making sure they were really dead... She tried to slowly get back on all fours, as no more bullets were coming through the wall. She had rarely been this scared. She was a very good hacker and fighter, but she was in the dark and unbearably vulnerable right now.
Then, someone slowly opened the door. Eden froze. There was no light on the other side either, meaning if she didn’t move, the enemy might not notice her or Circé... She ought to act at the right moment. She was in the worst position, but she could still somehow move and hopefully place a kick at the right time. The main issue was that whoever had come through the door was very silent, and she could barely hear their steps. Moreover, she didn’t want to risk killing one of Dante’s men...
Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her wrist and lift her up without warning, banging her against the wall. Eden grimaced, but her first reflex was to launch her fist in front of her. However, without seeing anything, she inevitably missed, while whoever was still holding her wrist suddenly pressed their body against hers. Eden tried to fight it, but a second later, she recognized that musky smell, that tall stature, and more importantly, the pair of golden irises shining in the dark.
“...I missed you too,” he muttered in a deep voice.
Eden let a faint breath of relief escape her lips, right before they got sealed by his.
Dante’s kiss was sudden, forceful, and desperate. Eden felt all of his strength in this kiss and lost her own. She could feel his body, pressed against her, not letting her escape. He wouldn’t even let go of her wrist. His other hand was already hooked around her neck, his fingers in her hair, so warm against her skin. He was kissing her relentlessly, and she couldn’t help but give in. It was too hot, too good, too necessary at that moment. All the stress and tension from before melted under his lips, making her weak in the knees. It was as if she had brutally gone from ice cold to flaming hot, and it was unbearably good. An alarm ringing in her head was telling her this was neither the time nor the place, but it was nothing compared to her body’s sensations.
It was Dante. Dante, holding her close, pressing her against a wall full of bullet holes, confirming he was there in every way possible. The Tiger was acting wild even in the face of danger. He didn’t care about the smell of gunpowder, death, and blood. He just wanted her, Eden. His hands were touching her body, as if to confirm she was alive, in his arms, and unharmed. He didn’t have a scratch on him either. Only the faint smell of his sweat under his shirt, which was driving her insane...
“D-Dante,” she gasped. “Stop...”
Her voice wasn’t very convincing, especially as she had to talk in between his kisses on her neck. His hand was now on her leg, in the slit of her dress, making her shiver with something that was definitely not cold. He couldn’t possibly be thinking about sex right now! Eden knew how insane it was, how crazy they were acting in the given situation, yet she could definitely feel him getting excited against her. They were against one another, in the dark, in a life-or-death situation, with probably a ton of dead people on the other side of that wall. This was definitely insane.
She grunted and pushed him back with both her hands on his torso, putting all of her strength into it. She was out of breath, her lips a bit sore, her body and mind were a mess, but she was resolutely keeping him at a distance.
“Stop... doing that,” she gasped. “We need to get out of here... to the... armory.”
“We already opened it,” he immediately replied. “Yasumoto is dead. Our people are seizing the weapons. We’re on the ground floor, and have locked the front doors; there are more people from the Core ready to ambush us outside.”
“O-okay,” nodded Eden, trying to absorb all that information. “Then... w-what about those who were still inside?”
“Thao convinced the remaining Yakuza to join us and we were getting rid of the Core’s people still inside.”
Eden suddenly understood. The battle on the other side was Dante’s men against the Core’s people. She slowly nodded, trying to think of the next step to take. It wasn’t easy, considering Dante was holding her hands tightly and pushing to get closer to her, while she was still trying to keep him at a safe distance.
“Now that we’ve got the weapons and they didn’t get any of their targets, they will try to take this place down,” she muttered. “We can’t stay. We have to get out somehow. As fast as possible.”
“I know. Thao suggested we split the weapons, bomb this place, and run back to our territories.”
“You left her with the weapons?” scoffed Eden.
