Lethal Combination

CHAPTER 8

When Ainsdale heard shuffling behind her closed door with her trained senses, her survival instinct kicked in. She immediately stood up from her bed and moved silently. She tried to look for something she could use to defend herself while considering the fact that she couldn't break anything inside the room, hence they'd really question her as to why she did that in the first place. Without any choice, she opened the closet and pulled the belt of one of the silk night gowns they put in there for her to use.

She had chosen to stay behind the door, in a place where the one on the other side cannot see her once the door was opened from the outside. She could literally smell blood coming from the other side of the door and she could tell someone had just died that night inside the Terra di Sienna manor. She was certain it was Dian who had died but she couldn't find it inside her to care about the man whom she herself had pushed towards his death.

Did they somehow find out who she is already? Or did Dian notice something about her this morning and that he chose to tell them everything he knew from there while he was undergoing torture and interrogation? Did the bastard say anything to the Arcanes? She gritted her teeth. Not knowing something could be really exhausting at times, especially when she is pretending to be someone else. And her situation even made everything worse for her.

She remained standing there inside her room, barefooted and only wearing silk pajamas, with all the lights turned off, her hands holding a silk belt which she removed from one of the night dresses in the closet, alert and ready to kill the person outside the door using it if he ever tried to enter her room at that time of the night. Yes, she is very capable of killing a person using such things as a silk belt.

Ainsdale could clearly see the shadow hovering over the door underneath the space below the floor, as if he was thinking whether he should go in or not. She waited. If he is going to enter her room, she really doesn't have a choice but to kill him, because that would only mean they have already discovered that she is not Euphrosyne. Maybe through Dian.

When she saw the door knob turned, she hid herself at the back of the door which would not be noticed upon entry. Light from the hallway entered her darkened room through the opened door and from her position, she saw the back of a bloodied man whose knuckles seemed to have just punched a wall a few times because his skin got scabs. He is breathing heavily as if he is trying to rein in a beast inside of him to lessen any casualties tonight.

When he walked away a few feet from the door, she took that chance to attack him from behind. She jumped him without a word as she moved without any sound and then immediately tied the silk belt around his neck before she tightened it to deprive him of air.

He lost balance and fell on the floor. Since he couldn't force her to release the belt, he grabbed her neck from behind and harshly pulled her down on the floor in front of him as he recovered from being deprived of air. She fell on her back with a thud and she groaned in pain, but she ignored it and, without spending any other minute, she stood up immediately. The light from the hall wasn't enough for them to recognize each other: him thinking she was another woman who had entered Euphrosyne's room and her thinking he had come into her room to kill her at Alessio's command.

With their skills as killers, they both fought for dominance as they scuffled on the marbled floor which is now stained with blood - each fighting for their own lives. When one of them kicks, the other is able to counter it, and when one of them throws a punch, the other will just easily dodge it. But there are times when they were able to hit each other. Only that, they were able to recover quickly and ignore the pain. That is how people survive in their kind of life.

The glass table where Ainsdale fell after she was tripped over by the hateful man broke into pieces and when she was able to push him back to a wall with a kick, the built-in cabinet broke behind his back at the impact. She is breathing rather harshly but she didn't have any time to think about that right now. She needed to survive tonight if she wanted to get back home alive. At least she can accept it if she dies in the vicinity of her own home.

Ainsdale was forced to let go of the belt when the man who entered her room twisted her arm behind her after he composed himself after being kicked in the gut and he only let go of her when she swung her other hand and was able to hit his temple.

He cursed especially when she was able to get a hold of one of his guns which she pulled from its holster underneath his coat on his side. She pointed it towards him and pulled the trigger without any second thoughts. If he did not move to the side out of instinct, she would have been able to shoot him.

She was aware that the sound of a gun fire was heard around the manor but she didn't have any time to think about the repercussions because the man immediately pulled his other gun out from its holster and pointed it towards her direction. If she was not able to hide behind the sofa, he surely would have hit her on the head when he pulled the trigger with all the intention of killing her.

Her breathing was harsh and her chest hurt because of the rapid beating of her heart, but she was alert. Her senses immediately heightened and slight sounds from his footsteps easily registered in her ears. With the silence of the room, she could even hear his breathing pattern. Like hers, it was ragged.

"Darling, why don't you come out now?"

Her eyebrows furrowed in realization. "Scion?" She asked the second she recognized his voice, but she remained sitting on the floor behind the sofa with the gun still being held tightly in her hand, ready to shoot him if needed.

Alessio frowned, but he didn't lower his gun. Instead, he pointed it directly to where her voice came from.

"You?" He asked back when he recognized her voice.

He did not want to say her name because he was not even sure if she was what she said she was. He was doubting her identity even before she went missing, and he was doubting it even more right this instant.

Surprise laced his voice because he did not expect her to be able to do what she just did. She was the one he had been fighting with? When was she able to do that? Doubt clouded his mind and he tightened his hold on his gun.

The fact that she calls him Scion instead of Alessio, the fact that she could hold herself up while fighting him - a cold-blooded killer, and the fact that she could shoot a gun like she had been doing it for a long time, strengthened his thoughts that she, even having the same face as the woman he was looking for, was a different woman.

Who is she?

"Getta via la pistola, amore. (Throw the gun away, love.)"

"No!"

"I'm not going to kill you."

She chuckled. "Said the one who tried to shoot me."

A mischievous smile etched on his lips. With him covered in blood - with Dian's, his and hers, he would have looked like a demon who enjoyed basking himself with blood. Knowing that she could still joke in this situation after they had tumbled literally on the marbled floor and tried to kill each other, he wondered why he found her sexy.

"Mi hai sparato per primo, tesoro. (You shot at me first, darling.)" He told her and since he couldn't move away from his position, he called for their intelligence system. "AVII, turn on the lights," he said and immediately right after he said those words, her room was illuminated.

She did not move away from her spot and Alessio frowned.

"Come out here, dear. Hence, I will shoot again."

"You are going to shoot anyway, so I'd better hide and think of a way to take you down first."

"I'm not."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Promise me."

"I swear."

Ainsdale thought for a moment before she stood up but made sure to secure the gun in her hand and point it at him. She was right, he did not pull the trigger as promised, but he didn't lower it. She is breathing heavily but her attention is solely focused on him.

Both of them were covered in blood. She was sure most of it belonged to the person whom he had just killed tonight, while the other came from his own wounds and hers due to the shards of glass that met their flesh and stayed impaled in there. Even the marbled floor has been tainted with red because they fought there a while ago and a few glasses scattered here and there from the broken table and cabinets. While looking at it now, her room is a mess and it is because of her and him.

Alessio stared at the bloodstained woman. He couldn't help but smile at seeing her looking dishevelled in her pajamas like she was just kissed savagely but wasn't able to finish beyond it. She was flushed red because of how forceful he had been while they were fighting and how tired she was, but she looked like she didn't care. And with a gun in her hand which was pointed directly at him, it made him want her to become his own.

What is wrong with him? He shouldn't be thinking that way in this situation. Was he deprived of his carnal needs for so long that it was making him desire her in a way that he wanted to have her even in their bloody state? He had never wanted Euphrosyne this way, and her being another woman must have something to do with it. He craved her and damn it, he was going to make sure he would have her soon.

"f**k you, Alessio! You're screwed," he thought to himself.

With the way his thoughts were going, he knew the extent of effect this woman had on him. If she only told him to do something, he felt like he would do so without even asking.

"Come here, love," he said, barely above a whisper, as if he was enticing her to follow his every word, but she shook her head 'no'. "Or do you want me to go there instead?"

"Don't move, Scion. I swear, I will shoot you."

Her acting so feisty made him think of things he wanted to do to her in bed. She really isn't Euphrosyne and he is thankful that she is not her.

He smirked. "You missed the first time."

She smiled knowingly. "Doesn't mean I'll miss this time."

Alessio chuckled and took her warning as a joke and when she saw him move towards her without warning, she pulled the trigger without blinking, shooting him in his shoulder, in a part which she was sure was not life threatening but would make sure he was going to let go of his gun out of control. It was a warning and the next time he ignored her words, she would really shoot him where he wouldn't be able to recover from soon.

The gunshot wound made him falter a little and he cursed as he held onto his wounded shoulder. Damn, that hurts! And she doesn't even look like she's a bit apologetic. In fact, a triumphant smile etched on her lips at that moment, as if she was enjoying the sight.

He glared at her in a way that promised hell and before she could celebrate, he moved so swiftly as if he had never been shot. Alessio pulled her towards him by her feet, making her fall on the floor for the second time. Next thing she knew, a gun was pointed at her forehead while the gun she was still holding was rendered useless. Alessio was now kneeling astride her waist while his other hand held her tied hands above her head and she was breathing heavily because of the effect of the drug on her system and how tired she was at fighting him.

She cannot help but curse those who were involved in the drugs' production because it is affecting her to the point that she cannot even execute everything she learned in the organization.

With their position, their breaths mixed as their lips were only a few inches away from each other. His chest almost touched hers. If they aren't covered in blood, if Alessio isn't holding her at gun point, they would certainly look like they are having an intimate time on the floor.

"At first I was doubting it, but now, I really am certain that you are not Euphrosyne. Everything you do tells me you are not the woman I despise and wanted to kill. Who are you?" Alessio said with a threatening tone.

He didn't pull the gun away from her head. Instead, he made her feel the cold metal of it as a warning that if she ever decides to stay silent or that if she ever decides to lie, she will end up with a hole in her forehead.

She looked at his shoulder, which was bleeding from a gunshot wound, and at the glass shards sticking in his own flesh.

"You're bleeding…"

Alessio raised his left eyebrow in question. "You shot me, remember? I'm not a rock, darling. Of course, I would bleed. Now, let's go back to the topic at hand, shall we? Who are you?"

She frowned. Alessio may have caged her between the floor and him, but he is making sure he isn't hurting her. He may have tied her hands and restrained them above her head, but only to the extent that she wouldn't be able to move.

"Is that more important right now?"

"Let me bleed, amore (love). Knowing who you are comes first."

"I - "

"Try and lie to me and I won't hesitate to put a bullet in your head."

"Ainsdale," she answered without any other choice, because Alessio really looked like he was about to kill her if she didn't tell him who she really was. He might have been making sure he was not hurting her while he restrained her on the floor, but he gave off the aura that he was ready to kill her. "My name is Ainsdale."

Alessio only tilted his head to the side as if he was studying her from that position, not caring if anyone would mistake them for doing something else if they saw them there on the floor, so she continued.

"I'm Aizen's sister."

He frowned. She is Aizen's sister? That woman who helped them regarding the data stolen from the family? The one who reprogrammed the security system of ISR overnight which affected him directly?

"What are you doing here?"

"Looking for answers."

Alessio stared at her. For a long time, they stayed that way on the floor - him astriding her while both of them were tainted with blood with a gun in his hands which was pointed directly at her forehead, while his other hand held hers above her tied ones above her head, making her unable to move freely away from him. In fact, she could feel him from that position and she blushed at the way her thoughts were going.

Alessio could freely look at her from his position above her and the way she blushed while she was at gun point made him smirk and chuckle in fascination. She really is something.

"Are you thinking something naughty?"

She blushed profusely then. "What? No!"

She wiggled her body underneath him, which was a wrong move because she felt him harden even more.

Alessio groaned in pain and lowered his head on her shoulder.

She started to worry because she thought it was because of his wounds. "Are you okay? Let go of me, Scion!"

He slightly shook his head but he stayed in that position before he whispered, "Smettila di muoverti, plumeria. (Stop moving, plumeria.) Hence, I will take you right here."

"W-what?"

He ground himself on her and she couldn't help herself but moan before she flushed red when she finally got what he was saying. "Can you feel me? That… is danger right there."

"I - "

Before she could answer him, footsteps that came to a halt at the door of her room stopped her from saying anything.

"What are you two doing?"

Don Alonzo, along with the twins and a few of the male Arcanes stood at the door as they glanced down at the two on the floor - guns in their hands, ready to kill whoever it was that was threatening the safety of their home. They must have heard the gunshots that came from her room.

Both Alessio and Ainsdale simultaneously looked at them from the floor. While she looked embarrassed to the point of flushing red because of their position, Alessio didn't move an inch away from her and just stared at his family.

The shutter of a camera which came from Luca, who just grinned when they looked at him, sounded over the silence. Ainsdale glared at him. Did he just take a photo of her and Alessio on the floor?

"I'm making memories," Luca mischievously told them as he completely ignored her glaring eyes.

Don Alonzo looked down at his grandson. "Alessio?"

"Stiamo facendo l'amore, nonno. (We're making love, grandpa.)" He answered without shame. He was aware that the woman in his arms was dying out of embarrassment at that moment and he wanted to tease her more.

"While she was tied and you caging her at gun point and while both of you are covered in blood?"

"We are trying something new." He answered, which made his cousins and the twins laugh, but they immediately concealed it when Ainsdale gave them a hateful glare.

The old patriarch glanced around the room. The floor is bloody, and there are glass shards everywhere due to the broken table and cabinet. The wall on one side has a hole from a bullet and there is another on the sofa, which means that the gunshots they heard downstairs were because these two had tried to shoot each other considering the guns they are both holding.

"I didn't know you liked rough loving."

Alessio laughed. "It depends on the woman I am with, grands. And this woman right here was capable enough to handle how rough I am. Now, if you could, please leave us alone and lock the door on your way out so that we may be able to continue."

"If only I could bite you to return you to your senses, I would have done so," Ainsdale whispered to him.

He looked down at her with a smile on his lips and whispered back, "return me to my senses? Tulip, if you did that, we'd surely end up on the bed or the floor if you prefer, totally naked."

Her desire pooled down between her legs but she totally ignored it. How could he affect her this way when she had long suppressed herself from feeling anything? She sighed and looked at the men standing at the door.

"Please get the emergency room ready, I'll be operating on Scion," Ainsdale told them, because she could see him continuously bleeding from the gunshot wound she caused. She was actually wondering how he could still act like he wasn't shot.

"What?"

Instead of answering them, she looked at the man who looked down at her with emotions she couldn't comprehend clouding his eyes.

A smile seemed to have taken residence permanently on his lips. She wondered what he found fascinating. "If you were to attend to me like this, I'd be willing to be shot by you every time."

"The next time, it'll be your head I'm shooting. Let go of me, Scion. I needed to tend to you immediately or else you would die from blood loss."

After staring at her for a while, Alessio released his hold on her and helped her up after he stood up on his own. He took his gun from her, which she willingly gave him, as if nothing happened before he removed the silk belt he used to tie her hands together. He even subtly checked if marks from the belt left her skin and when there were none, Alessio moved away from her.

Without even changing their bloodstained clothes, they went to the emergency room downstairs where she immediately operated on him because their family doctor was out at the moment and she was the only one who could help him right now.

She knew everyone was questioning her credibility. Especially when they all thought her to be Euphrosyne, who didn't have any ounce of knowledge regarding medicine, much more about emergency surgery. Alessio's mother doubted her skills, but Ainsdale ignored them all. The emergency room has complete amenities for emergencies such as this because of the kind of job they have in the shadows, so she was able to tend to him immediately without another person's help.

"You worked with my cousin, Stefano."

She glanced at Alessio for a second before she focused on pulling the bullet out from the wound on his shoulder.

"Once."

"It was you who saved him that night."

"Yes."

"And you being Aizen's sister means that it was you he called for assistance regarding the data which was stolen from the family while he was looking for Euphrosyne."

"Yes. It has been handled by the way. I remember you still owe me for that."

He laughed but agreed anyway. "Then why do you look like that despicable woman?"

"That is why I came here."

"Did Stefano recognize you?"

"Yes."

Alessio is lying there, unmoving, while he lets her stitch him up. A lot of things are currently going around his mind - from why to how and what. He knew Euphrosyne didn't have a twin. Then how come there is someone who looks exactly like her right here? Is that the reason why Aizen seemed to have been so interested in her the second he saw the photo which was taken from fifteen years ago, when Euphrosyne was only eight years old, on his laptop back at Club Arcana?

"Does anyone know who you are aside from my cousin?"

"You. But since you have already learned who I am, I'll be leaving after I patch you up."

"Don't."

She paused from stitching his wound and looked down at him. Alessio is looking at her as if he was pleading for her not to leave.

"But I am not Euphrosyne, Scion."

"And I am glad you are not her."

She shook her head and chuckled as she continued what she was doing. A few more stitches and she's done. "Why?"

"Because if you were, you'd be dead already."

One of the Arcanes must have called Dr. Petrakis over because he arrived just in time when she finished attending to Alessio. Since he had nothing left to do with the man she fought with a while ago, Khalil, the kind doctor, attended to her but instead of leaving her, Alessio stayed by her side and grimaced every now and then as the doctor pulled every glass shard from her flesh one after the other.

"What did you two even do that you ended up this way?"

"We made love," they both answered at the same time, which shocked Khalil to the point that he stopped what he was doing.

"What?"

Alessio chuckled and Ainsdale laughed gently as she tried to ignore the pain. Surely by tomorrow she'd feel it completely without the anesthetic.

"We tried to kill each other," she corrected.

Khalil nodded. That is a more acceptable reason for him.

"You are not supposed to over exert yourself because of the drug in your system. It wasn't even that long when you collapsed because of it. Are you feeling anything out of place?"

"No. Just a little more tired than usual."

"You should rest. And expect you'll be sleeping longer than usual. If the drug won't affect you immediately like what happened when you fought Lucien, it will certainly cope with you the next day, so you should be careful."

She nodded and listened to his instructions.

The maids have brought clothes for them to change into and when they are done, Ainsdale's arms have patches of gauze covering parts of her arm and so does Alessio, who, in addition, has his arm in a sling because of a gunshot wound in his shoulder.

"Try to stay away from each other for a while, would you? If you're this rough, I forbid you to f**k each other until you are fully healed."

"You're dirty," Ainsdale said as she tilted her head, but Khalil only laughed.

"That's still subtle," he told her before he looked at Alessio. "I'll see you both tomorrow."

They both watched Khalil leave the emergency room and the way the door clicked, they were aware that he locked it on his way out. Probably to make sure they were left alone to talk or do something else.

Ainsdale's heart started to thump inside her chest with anticipation while she couldn't look at Alessio straight in the eyes. She was not afraid, that is a fact, but there was something she was expecting and Alessio could clearly tell what that was.

Something clicked between them when Alessio found out she was a different woman. The fact that she wasn't Euphrosyne answered the question as to why he always wanted to see her, even if he was in the office working just to forget that she was there in the manor. Something awakened in him and his desire to claim her as his was as strong as his desire to protect her from everything. He cared about the woman and he couldn't even tell how much.

"Look at me, dianthus," he told her when he walked towards her, who was still sitting on the hospital bed and stopped in between her legs.

She did as she was told and the want she saw in his eyes reflected in hers. She really was not sure what was happening but she knew deep inside her that she wanted him. She wanted his hands feeling her skin. She was never this wanton, but it seemed like his presence brought out the wantonness in her.

Alessio raised his arm and gently caressed her cheek before his fingers traced her lips down to her neck. When she moaned his name in delight, it was his undoing. He lowered his head down to hers and kissed her lips. The things he wanted to do to her assaulted his mind. She responded just as intensely and when he asked her to open his lips for him, she did so willingly. He kissed and sucked her like he had been deprived of it for such a long time.

Her feet caged him and pulled her closer to her than ever, making her feel his raging desire that hardened even more at the feel of her. While lost in the moment, she moved her hips to feel him, which made him ground himself to her. With his arm in a sling, he could only use the other, which he used to pull her head upward by pulling down the strands of her hair at her back.

Ainsdale moaned and he groaned, wanting to feel her more closely until there was no space left between them.

"We don't know each other," she whispered in between kisses, and he smiled.

"We will," he assured her as his lips trailed down the hollow of her throat.

"This is wrong…"

He ground himself to her deeper and she moaned again as she pulled at his hair using her hands that found themselves entangled behind his neck.

"Which is?"

"This. Us."

Alessio slowly stopped kissing her until what was left was him tracing peck kisses on her forehead, neck, cheek, eyelid, nose and lastly, her lips.

"We are both consenting adults. When we want to f**k, we will. But, I wanted to make love to you, freesia. I want to taste every single part of you and do you slowly until you beg me to take you hard and fast. And I will, I promise you I will. That is how strongly I desire you."

"You only want my body."

"No, tiger lily. Call me greedy, but I want all of you. Your body and your soul. So don't you ever leave my side."

"Do you have any plans to tell your family who I am?"

"No. Not right now anyway. You have answers you wanted to find, right? I swear I will help you find them."

"What if Euphrosyne comes back?"

"She better not if she wanted to live a longer life," he told her before he kissed her lips. "Come on, let's go or else our injuries might not be able to stop me from taking you right here."