The Golden Heart of Leon

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

You're so foolish

Leon continued to walk through the village quietly, enjoying the silence. He had planned to go back to the forest. He had informed his master that he had completed his task and his master had told him that he had a new task but he would tell him in the morning who his next victim was since he was too tired to discuss anything with him.

As he continued to make his way to the woods, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream coming from somewhere in the village. Now Leon was normally cold-hearted but something about that scream sounded vaguely familiar to him.

Not wasting any time he followed the sound wondering who would be outside screaming at this time of the night? He started to run because he thought he recognised the voice. Suddenly coming round a corner he saw four men and a woman. One of the men was holding the woman by the arms tightly; another looked like he was trying to undress her and the others were standing behind their leader laughing.

His hands clenched; the woman was kicking the man and continually screaming for help and he found himself snapping at the men.

"Stop that!" he shouted out and caught the men's attention. They all looked towards Leon and some of them seeing the expression on his face were petrified.

He moved towards them and spoke again.

"What are you boys doing out past your bedtime?" he asked in a mocking tone.

Jeff managed a smirk before replying.

"Stay out of this if you know what's good for you," Jeff snarled.

"Let me guess - you must be Jeff, right?" Leon said and grinned evilly at Jeff.

"Yeah I am and you must be Leon, the one the whole town talks about."

"Well if the whole town talks about me then you obviously already know my name," he exclaimed.

"What do you want Leon? If you came for chit-chat then you're wasting your time." Jeff warned him.

"Actually no I'm not wasting my time here; why do you have a woman here screaming for her life with your mongrels in support?" Leon asked.

"Mind your own business, she's ours," he replied.

"Oh I see, let me guess you haven't had sex in a while because your girlfriend has refused to have it with you and so you got drunk because you're pissed off. So you think taking advantage of this poor girl will change everything. I wonder what will happen when I tell your girlfriend what you and your friends are up to," he taunted.

He turned and narrowed his eyes towards Jeff's friends. They now realised the danger they were in and retreated and then ran. He turned back towards Jeff who was now holding Evelyn all by himself.

"I guess I'm just going to have to teach you a lesson since you don't know how to treat women properly."

"What do you know about my girlfriend? If you want a fight you've got one," Jeff shouted angrily.

He let go of Evelyn and kept his eyes on Leon.

Leon went on, "I know that she has been cheating on you for the past six months since I've often seen her in the pub drunk having men all over her; she truly is one hell of a slut."

He kept his eyes on Jeff, thankfully he had protection on him, since he carried a knife in a trouser pocket and he knew how to use it.

His muscles flexed as he moved closer towards Jeff and he notice that he was getting out a knife. Before he could even get the knife out Leon had closed the distance between them and pinned him on the ground. Now it was Jeff's turn to feel trapped.

Leon didn't even need to take his knife out from his pocket. As Jeff tried to reach again for his knife, Leon punched him hard on the chest and Jeff grunted and stopped trying to fight. He knew that he was beaten and that his life depended on not resisting.

As Evelyn was watching this she couldn't help but think that there was something vaguely surreal and almost inhuman about him? He didn't seem at all out of breath. Leon now picked Jeff up and propelled him violently across the street Evelyn closed her eyes tightly. If this was going to end badly then she didn't want to see it. Leon moved towards Jeff who was whimpering like a wounded dog on the ground before getting him up on to his feet and snapping forcefully, "If you ever lay your hands on her again." Jeff backed away and turned to run down the alleyway.

Leon heaved a sigh and turned to walk over to Evelyn.

"Don't just stand there - do your buttons up for goodness sake," he told her.

She nodded and did as he asked and hoped that he didn't think that she was partly to blame by being out so late at night. He moved closer towards her placing both of his large hands on either side of the wall so she wouldn't be able to escape from him. "So tell me what on earth is a girl like you doing outside in the middle of the night? Don't you know you might've been killed? It's not safe for you out here, "he shouted. He couldn't quite believe what was happening to him. Normally he wouldn't have cared at all about anyone, but here he was protecting this girl. Why?

"Sorry, please don't shout at me. I ran away from my father. He beats me," she said and was aware that her voice betrayed a certain shyness.

"So you thought that if you ran away from your father things would get better but now you've given some morons the chance to rape you? You're very foolish. Also you should be grateful that I don't want to bloody rape you. You're so foolish," he barked out.

"I didn't do that on purpose but I'm grateful to you for saving me from those men. Enough is enough! All I want to do is sleep." She had had enough of his attitude.

"Well I'm sorry but I don't have a place for you to stay because my master wouldn't approve of the idea of a woman staying in our house." He paused for a minute averting his gaze from the woman towards the inn that they were both standing outside of. He looked back towards the woman and sighed deeply. He got out some money from one of his trouser pockets and handed it to Evelyn placing it in her hand gently.

"Take this. It's enough money to buy a room for a week in the inn and in case you're wondering, no it's not stolen money, it is my own money. I'm only giving it to you because I don't want you standing here all night in the cold and rain. So take it before I decide to change my mind." He tried saying this softly but failed since it came out sharply.

Evelyn's eyes widened as she watched Leon hand her the money - could she really take it? But then again when she heard his warning she nodded in agreement and understanding.

"Thank you; I'm Evelyn by the way how can I ever repay you?" she questioned him.

"You cannot go out so late at night anymore that would be repaying me enough," he answered her.

"I promise I won't go out late at night anymore," she responded pleasantly.

She turned towards the entrance of the inn making her way into it until she felt two warm large hands draped around her waist pulling her back until she hit a hard solid large chest. She felt his hot breath near her ear making her shiver. She wasn't sure if it was fear or if she felt some attraction. Then the moment passed and Leon spoke again to her.

"By the way call me Leon." He smiled faintly towards her before deciding to make his way back to the cottage only to be stopped again by her voice.

"Thank you for saving my life." She thanked him.

"Goodnight Evelyn," he whispered taking leave.

He turned his back to her and pulled up his hood again to cover his face making his way out of the alleyway and back towards the cottage. Thinking of nothing and no-one except for the innocent and feisty girl he had just saved.