The rooftops were silent once more — but silence, in this city, never lasted long.
Leon lit his third cigarette for the morning, smoke curling around the dried blood on his lips like an old lover returning home.
Aria sat beside him, her head resting on his shoulder, humming a soft tune — the same one she used to hum after a fresh kill.
The corpses around them were already cold.
"Y'know," Leon muttered, eyes half-lidded, "If we keep stacking bodies like this, we'll run out of space before winter."
Aria giggled, a sound so sweet it could rot teeth.
"Let them pile up, my love. I like the smell... it reminds me you're still mine."
Her fingers slid across his chest, pressing lightly against the spot where his heart beat slow and steady, like it belonged to her.
Because it did.
But their quiet moment didn't last.
A low, mechanical buzz echoed through the alleyways below, followed by the sharp, unholy screech of metal grinding against flesh.
Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Ah... guess the Guild sent their dogs early."
Out from the mist emerged them — Blackthorn Enforcers.
Not human. Not anymore.
A patchwork of steel, rotting flesh, and dark magic, stitched together into mockeries of soldiers. Their eyes glowed with an unnatural green, and their mouths stretched wide in a permanent, bone-splitting grin.
Aria stood up slowly, brushing dust from her stained dress like a bored queen preparing for her court.
"You want the first dance, or should I?"
Her voice was playful, her eyes cold.
Leon cracked his neck, rising to his feet with a lazy stretch.
"Age before beauty, doll."
The enforcers lunged, but the two of them moved like the night had taught them every secret step.
Leon fired.
Aria slashed.
Blood sprayed the morning air like it was painting a masterpiece on the sky.
One enforcer lunged toward Aria, jagged blades replacing its arms, but before it even touched her — her blade cut through its torso, smooth and effortless.
She whispered against its dying face:
"Next time... knock first."
Leon, meanwhile, danced between bullets and claws, his revolver singing a soft, deadly tune as each shot carved out another corpse.
The two met back-to-back, surrounded by broken metal limbs and twitching flesh.
Aria leaned closer, licking a drop of blood from his cheek.
"You're still mine," she whispered, possessive and proud.
Leon smirked, turning to press a kiss against her bloodstained lips.
"Always."
The last of the enforcers crumbled to the ground, twitching like broken toys.
The air hung heavy with the scent of iron and gunpowder.
Above them, black clouds coiled into unnatural shapes, and from the center of the sky — a single black feather drifted down.
Leon caught it midair.
"Looks like the real game's about to start."
Aria's crimson eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Let them come, my love. Let the world send every killer, every monster, every goddamn nightmare it has...
As long as I'm with you — they're already dead."
Their laughter echoed through the broken city, twisted and beautiful.
And as the sun set, the city whispered its promise:
Blood & Jasmine was far from over.