100,000 or the girl? (Chainedkitten & BlisteredBlood)

"Nah, don't worry about it." He answered with a shake of his head and a somewhat sad smile. Vincent didn't like it, but she did have a point in telling him to lay back on the bed and at least try to get some rest. Once he was down on the pillow, Vincent gazed up at the ceiling, pondering over a few things as he relaxed on the bed. First and foremost, what in the hell was he going to do if and when the time came if his boss handed down onto Vincent to carry out the task to put Asa out of her misery, provided if the question was more like, could he even carry it out? He said to her face that he promised that he'd do it, but there was just something that wasn't right about this. Normally Vincent didn't have any thoughts like this before, but there was just something so out of place in this current situation, that Vincent just couldn't put his finger on it.

Could it be, he wondered, that he felt something towards Asa? If so, what was it? Pity? Guilt? Or something more? All of these questions began to swirl about in Vincent's head, preventing him from getting any rest whatsoever, giving off small groans and grumbling a few times as he turned on his side, being mindful to not aggravate his injured shoulder.

Looking towards the door once more Asa swallowed hard, gathering up her megar courage. The dishes were finished and Vincent should be asleep. She could just look, just take one tiny little look and see if anyone could really stop her. After all, at this point the only two options she had was slip out the door now, or shoot Vincent with his own gun. And no matter what was going to happen she couldn't do that, she just didn't have it in her to hurt anyone, let alone Vincent. Tears gathered in her eyes at the thought of him, but she brushed them away.

Slipping quietly to the door, feeling ashamed and guilty for some reason, Asa stood there looking at Vincent's bedroom door for at least a minute. Waiting for any noise that would confirm he was comming after her. When none came she turned the door knob, wincing when it gave a faint click. It took her at least two minutes to open the door a crack, so she could look out into the bleak darkness. Seeing nothing she cracked the door open a little more, and a little more, until she could see the hallway, or, well, not much of it because it was so dark.

Cautiously she moved forward, sliding out of Vincent's appartment into the hallway, where in an instant she felt the barrel of a gun resting against her forhead. Letting out a rush of breath, Asa stayed still.

"Where are yah goin' girlie? Runnin' away from the big man already? Stupid shit can't even watch over his ward, welllllll I'll get the credit then."

A large hand was placed on her shoulder and one went to cover her mouth. Holstering the gun he pulled her towards his own body, pressing her against his chest. Silently he dragged her backwards down the hall, but away from the exit, towards something. Asa tried to struggle, tried to kick at his ankles, but all he did was tighten his hands and she moaned in pain.

"We can't be havin' that ugly devil findin' yah with me. Here we go." Letting go of her shoulder he dug around his pocket looking for a key, finally finding it in his pocket. He bent down and unlocked something, pulling open a small door and grabbing some things from the floor. In a matter of momments he had her hands and feet tied, gagged and pushed into the little compartment under the stairs that he had unlocked.

Sneering at her he kicked her the rest of the way in. "Now i is goin' to tell the boss who has yah. Vincent 'll get the shaft fer sure." Locking the door he walked away, and Asa was left crying in the darkness.

For the most part, Vincent stayed right where he was, lost more in his thoughts than he was supposed to be resting them. In all honesty, there was just something bugging him endlessly, like some odd kind of premonition of some sort. He had paid no mind whatsoever initially when Asa peeked in on him but his ears perked when he heard a faint click. His thought then was that someone had snuck into the house and had a gun ready with his name on it. At that moment, Vincent's eyes went wide as he cautiously rolled off the side of the bed and dropped to the floor carefully, being mindful to not make a sound and once more reach for his SPAS-12 tactical shotgun. For the most part, he had to aim the weapon with his other arm since his injured shoulder wasn't going to be of any use to him right now.

Slowly, Vincent stood back up, cocking the shotgun once and looking from side to side with a wary look in his eyes as he slowly stepped from the bedroom and out into the hallway, looking from side to side in the same manner.

Something's not right here... He thought. Looking towards the front of the house, he saw that the front door was open. Not by much, but it did warrant something of an investigation. With his eyes narrowed and after getting his shoes and a bulletproof vest on that he had tucked away for such an occasion as this, Vincent slowly made his way outside, wanting to know what was going on. If his suspicion was correct, there was someone out here that wanted to make a grab for Asa... Someone that he and he alone was solely responsible for.

He lurked in the shadows, along and behind a corner that Vincent couldn't exactly see unless he moved a couple inches to the right. Sinister and dark, he grinned and watched Vincent looking around like an idiot. A sneer graced his lips as he waited for whatever Vincent was going to do. Did he think the girl had run away? There was no evidence that she had been kidnapped. But Vincent was a hunter, and he knew his prey. Maybe he knew she had been kidnapped, but Jason doubted it. There were no marks of a struggle, and the girl was gone. Locked as she was under the stairs, compleatly muffled and silenced. The best she might be able to do was flop around, but as the water heater was under the stairs as well, the noise might not be noticed at all.

Grinning he cocked his gun silently and waited for the perfect vantage point to shoot Vincent in the head. Then he would be the top assassin, and get all those juicy commisions!

A veteran yet predatory sense began to foreshadow Vincent's thoughts, something similar to what the prey had felt when a hunter was somewhere extremely closeby but at the same time, trying to think his way through the current predicament. There was definitely something amiss, according to what he deduced so far as he began looking from side to side once more.

No signs of a struggle... But that door is open. Major vibe coming off of that. He thought as he slowly lifted the shotgun up, resting the butt of the weapon under his cheek and trained his aiming eye down the iron sights as he stopped moving for a moment, this time using his eyes to look about as he began stepping backwards and to the left slowly and quietly before resting his back against the wall.

Whether the next action was purely inadverdant or not, a slight nervous twitch in the form of a sneeze shot out of Vincent's lungs and voicebox, projecting a loud "AH-CHOO!" throughout the house.

Startled, Jason jumped up and swung his arm out, aiming his pistol at Vincent and pulling his finger back to fire a shot. Sweat was pouring down his body, as it always did in these situations, he was too excitable, too jumpy.

Under the stairs Asa's eyes popped open. She knew that voice! Even in a sneeze she knew it! Vincent was up! But what if he encountered that crazy man that had stolen her? What if he got hurt? What if he wasn't looking out and got shot? With a cry that was nearly compleatly muffled, Asa tried to scoot over to the wall so she could kick and nudge at it, but the odly sloped floor wouldn't allow her too, and her efforts were rewarded with minimal movenment. Frustrated, she tried harder, only exausting herself, and forcing her to lay still.

If it wasn't enough that Vincent sneezed, the next thing he heard was that someone jumped out and a glint of metal was now seen!

"Motherfucking - ...!" Vincent was cut short when he ducked out of the way when the shot was fired, nearly missing his ear. In sudden retaliation, Vincent glanced up and glared at the hidden assailant with a look of murder burning freely in his eyes as moved to another vantage point within the house and crouched down, cocking the shotgun once more and pulled the trigger in the direction he thought the assailant might be. Even if it wasn't a direct hit (which Vincent hoped he did), the spray from the 12-gauge pellets covered a large enough area in the direction it was fired at.

There was a wet gurgle from Jason, his shocked hands dropped his pistol, and the gun went off, but the bullet was stray.

"Fuck me...."

He looked down at himself, seeing little and medium sized holes all over his torso and legs. Shocked, he ran his hands over them slowly as he started to cough up blood and sank to his knees. With another wet sound he faceplanted in a ever widening pool of blood. His legs kicked a few times before the spasms stoped and he lay still on the floor.

Vincent kept his weapon trained long after he heard four things. First, a wet gurgling racket. Secondly, the pistol hitting the floor then went off again. Third, a voice followed by coughing and finally, a body hitting the floor.

Slowly, Vincent stood back up on his feet, keeping the shotgun aimed as he cocked it again, ejecting the used shell before stepping over to the body then gave a small kick to it, confirming that it was indeed a killshot then knelt down.

"No pulse." Vincent muttered to himself after pressing two fingers to the gunman's neck. "And you're right. Fuck you for entering my home, bitch." He snarled quietly.

Asa could make no sound, she had no energy. Tied up and gagged as she was there was nothing she could do anymore. Vincent wouldn't find her in time. She felt her life pulsing out of her, second by second. The blood starting to pool beneath her, soaking her clothes and her skin with it's red color. As the seconds passed she lost the ability to move, to even make a small cry for him to hear. She couldn't do anything. Too weak to cry, her brain started to fuzz and lose concentration. And she slipped into a hazy kind of unconciousness.

The hole of the bullet was low, next to the floor, taking some of the floor and door to under the stairs with it. Slowly a thin line of blood lolled out of that hole, trailing along the grains in the wood.

Vincent began to think for a moment as he now stood there victorious over his fallen opponent. Prior to that standoff, he thought he heard something coming from downstairs. Someone banging into something metal.

"The water heater?!" He said aloud as he now ran downstairs.

Once he arrived in the cellar, he began searching high and low for anything that could've generated that racket. However, he would soon come upon a startling sight.

"Oh fuck..." He said quietly when he saw a trail of blood from behind that locked door.

Tell me that isn't...! He thought as he frantically used the butt of the shotgun as a makeshift battering ram against the lock over and over, causing to bend progressively from the force he projected. When that didn't exactly work, Vincent dropped the shotgun to the ground then gripped the handle with both hands, forcing his injuried shoulder to work hard as he eventually tore the hinges off of the lock, finally forcing it open after a long, hard try while groaning mightily, aggravating some of the stitchwork in the process.

There she was, upon discovery, bleeding from a severe gunshot wound. Where it was, was hard to say. "God-fucking-dammit!" He said as he slowly when inside, plucking Asa's injured form out of the small compartment.

As he took her body from the compartment his hands and arms quickly became covered in blood. A wide hole on her right side announced where she had been shot. But the bullet was no longer inside her. It lay on the floor in a twisted heap, slightly dug into the floor. At the movement, and the ensuing pain she cried out, her foggy eyes opening just a little, seeing his face swim in her vision. "Mmmm...." She couldn't really talk, to drained to do so. Her skin was alarmingly pale, her body limp in his grasp.

The wound was not a clean wound, rips of flesh lay against her body, and the hole still steadily ran red with blood. Her shirt had been partly blown away from the impact, but had left fibers and pieces of the cloth in the wound. Medical attention would be nessicary very quickly or she wouldn't make it, assumeing that she hadn't already lost too much blood at this point to live.

There wasn't any time to waste once he got Asa into his grasp, despite his hands and arms were rapidly spilling over with Asa's precious life force. A closer look revealed that she was hit in the right side and it was hardly a clean exit. The wound was ragged-looking, quite possibly the ugliest thing he had ever seen. For it to happen to someone so young and lovely like her was an outright travesty. This was for what, he wondered? What did she do to deserve this?!

However, as mentioned previously, there was no time to dwell on this now. Asa needed Vincent to help her in the worst kind of way.

Being careful to not aggravate her wounds further, Vincent began hurrying up the steps and carried her back into the bedroom. As she laid there before him, Vincent began bringing in the necessary items needed. Normally, a field surgeon was the one who carried the kind of equipment that Vincent had brought into the room hand in hand, but this situation was now one of those moments.

Of the things he had was styptic to slow the bleeding down, disinectant to clean the wound, his combat knife to cut away the shredded area of her ruined and bloodied shirt, sewing thread, a needle, and godforbid if he needed this, a large syringe that contained a small amount of adrenaline to shock her back if the situation called for it.

First things first, Vincent thought. He brought out his combat knife then used it to cut away the ruined shirt, leaving her without much of a top.

Next item. He needed to get this wound of her to stop pissing blood all over the place or worse, get it infected. With a set of tweezers he took out of a drawer, Vincent began removing the bits and pieces of cloth that had gotten mixed up with the gunshot wound, taking it slow and carefully as he went. One of the things he didn't need to do was cause her anymore suffering than she was currently in.

Once that task was accomplished, Vincent began to apply the needed amount of disinfectant on a facecloth then gingerly applied it to the wound, glancing up at Asa occasionally as he worked. With that completed, he then gripped the styptic bottle and took another facecloth, applying enough to do the same thing on the disinfected area so the blood would be allowed to stop flowing out.

"Come on... Come on..." He muttered to himself as he continued working as quick but carefully as he could manage.

Incoherant, yet frightened, Asa wasn't really sure what was going on. She felt the firy pain in her side but she couldn't scream or cry out. Her voice just didnt want to work. She was tramatized and upset but she couldn't express it. It was like her ability to move was gone, and in her hazy state she couldn't really understand why it was gone. His touch was gentle for what he was doing and at least it caused her a minimum of pain. For the moment.

As soon as the cloth with the disinfectant was pressed against her wound her body arched up in silent agony, her back near breaking itself with the angle it was at. Her mouth opened into an 'O' but she said nothing, there was just a little huff of air from her lips and her eyes rolled into the back of her head before she collapsed, her body stricking the ground hard.

Thankfully that pain took the rest of her conciousness with it, and she was now mercifully unconcious, unable to feel any more. He would have the freedom to hurt her to get the job done as quickly as possible.

The coagulant seemed to work, and as he pressed it against her the flow of blood moved from gushing to throbbing to leaking to dripping to nonexistant. Which was good, because if the parlor of her skin was any indication she might be dead soon.

Fortunately, Asa was still held by the restraints she was placed in to keep her from thrashing around too much. What really got Vincent's attention the most was the fact that she was bending her back at such a wicked angle, that he was partly convinced that she might break her back doing this.

I know it hurts, Asa... But you gotta stay with me on this! Vincent thought as he watched her form eventually relax and then drift off into unconciousness. Well, on the upscale of things, she was knocked out and not dead. That was the last thing he wanted to worry about right now. It was also lucky for him that he brought that adrenaline shot with him if in fact that she was about to cross the River Styx.

Vincent continued to work, trying to keep the wound clean as he possibly could until he was thoroughly convinced that he got it all as well as keeping her blood from spilling all over the place, save for a bit of spatter that tagged him in the face, causing him to twitch in an aggravated manner. However, the wound eventually sealed up as expected.

"OK... Now comes the next to final task..." He muttered to himself as he began prepping a needle and some thread. "Sealing your ass up." He muttered again.

Prior to getting started, Vincent glanced over to Asa's form for a moment, keeping his eyes on her chest's movement. So far, so good, he figured. However, this struggle was far from over. Vincent steeled himself once more as he then began using the sewing needle and thread to make compact stitches as tight as he could manage, using the thin part of his thumbnail as a guide.

Minute after agonizing minute passed before he finally got the necessary patchwork in place, sealing the ragged looking wound eventually and successfully.

With one more glance to Asa, he spoke again. "Home stretch, Asa. Just hang in there a little while longer." Vincent spoke.

Now armed with an ace bandage, Vincent began to dressed the stitched area but kept in mind that she needed enough space to breathe. The whole process would soon be done in the matter of a few more minutes before he finally backed away from Asa, looking over his handiwork.

As he leaned back, watching her, Asa began to shake. It was often a symptom of shock, and her body looked like it was freezing. She had managed to struggle enough under the stairs, and now as Vincent pactched her up, that her wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw, leaving harsh burns on her skin. It had been a good idea though to keep her tied while he worked, for one man couldn't operate on her and hold her down at the same time.

Her teeth began to chatter, her breathing comming fast and hard. But even as she looked cold, sweat started to build up on her forehead and trickle down her cheeks and into her hair. Her tied hands grasped and un clasped constantly, her dainty toes curling.

And while still covered in blood, she was a horrifying sight. A clearly abused innocent who hadn't deserved any of what had happened to her, and her body was unable to deal with the trauma.

Once the work was done, Vincent put away all of the needed tools, save for the knife which he used to cut the ropes that had bound her wrists and ankles nice and slowly as well as removing the tape from her lips gently. The poor thing was so horribly traumatized, that she was beyond any reasoning. The only thing she needed now was comfort. Someone to tell her that she's going to be OK.

Once her ties and gag were removed, Vincent sat beside Asa after tossing a blanket over her form then took one of her small hands in his own, gazing at her with a concerned look.

Blood coated both of them, leaving them dirty and itchy. Asa still shuddered, though her small hand, clasped in his. Gently tried to hold on, almost as if she knew it was him. But she didn't have the strength, and her ladylike fingers could only hold his own for a few moments before they went lifeless, exausting their energy. Whimpering in her unconcious state her legs started to move, rubbing against each other for warmth, the rest of her body finding no comfort, even with Vincent by her side and a blanket over her. Her subconcious working hard and quickly to repair the damage done to her mind, instead of her body.

Even though he did his best, blood spotted the bandage, though it didn't get soaked. Only a minimal amount dribbled from her now.

Long after she passed out on him a second time, Vincent remained by her side in a state of exhaustion, relief, misery and anger all at the same go, further expending what mental faculties he had left. For the most part, he figured she was going to be OK, but the damage to her mind outweighed the body damage by at least ten to twentyfold.

Sighing and shaking his head, Vincent once again picked Asa up into his arms and instead carryed her over to the living room once more and placed her on the couch. In front of her, Vincent sat, parking his mountainesque frame down in front of her. One thing that he knew for certain was that those sheets needed to be destroyed.

There was also another problem as Vincent sat there in front of Asa. There was a dead body in the house that also needed disposal.

However, Vincent was in no physical or mental condition to even think about attempting such feats as of right now. So instead, Vincent slowly lifted his head back then relaxed on the floor beside Asa. It was the least he could do for right now.

Nearly eight hours later, Asa grogally woke. Moaning low in her throat as she started to come back to this world. Her eyes hurt, her side hurt, her wrists hurt, her ankles hurt and her back hurt. Even the slight adjustment of her body was enough to send radiations of pain through her back and skull. "Ohh...." Her voice was but a whisper, pained and edgy. as her eyes focused she noticed a large body beside her, yet on the floor. Looking down at him for a moment she just stared. Before starting to scream.

"Vincent!" Fearing the worst, and that he was dead, she forced her body to sit up, trying to grab for him and show herself that it wasn't true. That he was alive and just sleeping or unconcious. "Vincent wake up!" Her frantic and weak hands couldn't move him, and tears started to gether in her eyes once more, running down her face as she started sobbing. There was blood everywhere, all over her, all over him. What had happened? Her body shook with the force of her sobs, and she was unable to control herself.

Eight hours of rest soon came and eight hours of rest went. All which seemed to have flown by faster than the Blue Angels when bunched together in formation. Fortunately for him, no dreams paid him a visit.

What did get him to wake up eight hours later was a woman screaming then shaking him out of sleep. "Hmm?!" Vincent sounded, sitting up suddenly with a startled look before grimacing when he aggravated the stitchwork on his shoulder then laid back down on the floor, groaning painfully.

"Jesus! Thanks for the alarm!" He growled in an annoyed manner as he once again sat back up, but carefully this time.

"Vincent.... I thought.... I..."

Her voice broke as she looked down at his painfully grinning face, and she burst into tears. She had been so scared, and though it had near killed her with pain to move she had thought of nothing but praying he wasn't dead, and trying to save him if he were dying. Bringing her palms to her eyes she blocked her face, trying to wipe the tears away as she cried.

Dried blood was re-wet and swiped across her face, though with the state the both of them were in a bit more smeered blood really didn't matter.

Vincent began to recant what he previously said. She didn't need the blasting he gave her just now. Slowly, Vincent began to stand up and moved close to Asa before laying her down on the couch.

"Just try to relax, hun." He said in a soothing voice. "I just brought you back from the brink." He added, placing a hand on her face and stroked her cheek to calm her down.

Still crying hard she tried to move away, to pull away from the man who didn't understand how much he had scared her. And then he had to go and remind her of her own fatal flaw, the incident that almsot cost her her life, and she started crying all over again. She was dirty, covered in blood, smelling like sickness and antiseptic, with tears matting her hair to her face and leaving tracks in the dried blood. Her clothes were even stained eith the stuff. And she felt even more helpless because she only had one sock on, the other missing.

"Please.... just... stop.... I need a shower." Her words had breaks in it where she tried to catch her breath and stop crying, but she couldn't, all she could do was sob and look at him with bayful eyes.

In truth, Vincent did know how much he scared her. He sighed and shook his head slowly as he continued trying everything he could to at least try to get her to calm down. "I'm sorry, Asa..." He said softly as tears slowly began to form in his eyes.

"OK. Lemme get you to the bathroom and get you cleaned off." Vincent said with a nod as he carefully lifted her up into his arms then turned around before walking over to the bathroom.