POV: Leon Kennedy
3 Years Later
It had been three years since Grace and I came to Umbrella.
In that time, my life had completely changed.
I had trained in every type of combat imaginable—hand-to-hand fighting, firearms, blades, poisons, infiltration, tracking… you name it. If it could be used in a fight, Umbrella made sure I learned how to use it.
Grace, on the other hand, had taken a different path.
She had become one of Umbrella's scientists and field operators. When I was out on missions, operators would guide me through communications, provide intel, track targets, and monitor the situation. Grace wasn't cleared to be my operator yet back then—Umbrella said she was still a bit too young—but I knew it was only a matter of time.
My first mission happened when I was sixteen.
The first vampire I ever killed was around fifty years old—not that old for a vampire, honestly. Some of them had lived for centuries.
My mission was simple: find and eliminate the target.
He had been causing problems in a small town in California.
I arrived in town quietly and spent my time tracking his movements. I watched every place he went, every street he walked down, and every time he came out to feed.
Most vampires couldn't walk in the sun.
The only ones who could had something called a daylight ring. The ring contained a special type of magic that protected them from burning under sunlight.
But like I said… most vampires didn't have one.
And this one didn't either.
So he only came out at night.
I tracked his movements carefully and made sure he never once noticed me. It only took two days to set up my trap.
"Leon, do you copy?" a voice rang through my earpiece.
I tapped the side of it.
"Yeah, loud and clear, Alex."
Alex was one of Umbrella's operators, and he was helping guide me through my first mission.
"Are you ready to move in?" he asked.
"Yep. Everything's set."
"Alright," Alex said. "Be safe, kid."
"I will," I replied before turning off the comms.
It was daytime.
There was no way I was making things harder for myself by fighting him at night.
I walked toward the house he was staying in.
It was fairly large—big enough for a family of five.
I walked up to the front door and knocked.
A minute later, a woman opened it. She had a scarf wrapped around her neck.
"Hello, ma'am," I said politely. "I'm new in town and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the town square."
The woman smiled and stepped outside to give me directions.
The moment she did—
I knocked her out.
She dropped instantly.
I dragged her inside and gently laid her on the floor. Then I pulled out my custom handgun.
The SG-09.
I liked to call it Silver Ghost.
It was a heavily customized 9mm handgun based on a Heckler & Koch USP9. It fired specialized rounds capable of stunning vampires or werewolves.
The magazine was technically unlimited thanks to a spell Umbrella engineers had placed on it.
In my other hand, I held a black wooden stake.
This stake would burn a vampire to ash once it pierced their heart, leaving no body behind.
The house was dark—exactly what I expected.
All the blinds were closed and taped down. Every light was turned off.
I switched on my flashlight and began moving carefully through the house.
Every step was quiet.
Every corner checked.
I eventually made my way down into the basement.
And what I saw there made my stomach twist.
A man lay on the floor with his head completely torn off.
Nearby were three children.
Their throats had been ripped open.
The smell of blood and decay filled the room.
I covered my nose with my sleeve, trying to block the smell.
There was nothing else down there.
So I turned to leave.
And that's when I saw her.
Standing behind me was a little girl.
For a split second I aimed my gun at her—but when I realized she was just a child, I lowered it.
I knelt down in front of her.
"Are you okay, kid?" I asked gently.
Tears streamed down her face.
"They killed them," she cried. "My family… they killed them all."
A tight pain hit my chest.
I knew that feeling.
I had lost my family too.
I put the stake away and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Listen," I said softly. "Everything's going to be okay. Just stay behind me."
The little girl nodded.
We slowly moved upstairs together.
I stayed alert—listening for every sound, smelling the air, watching every shadow.
Nothing escaped my attention.
Then I heard it.
Crack.
I spun around.
Nothing.
"That always happens," the girl said. "Our house was always noisy."
I shook my head.
Something wasn't right.
Then suddenly—
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I ducked just in time as a vampire lunged toward my throat.
"Run!" I shouted to the girl.
She took off instantly.
I fired several shots at the vampire, but he moved with incredible speed.
He appeared behind me and punched me straight through a wall.
I crashed into the next room.
As I stood up, the vampire spoke.
"How the hell did you find us?" he growled. "Who the hell are you?"
"Us?" I repeated.
But I didn't have time to question it.
He rushed at me again.
I fired two shots.
One hit his leg.
The other hit his shoulder.
He stumbled forward and dropped to one knee.
I rushed toward him and pulled out my black stake, ready to finish it—
But he grabbed my arm.
With my free hand, I fired twice into his head.
He fell backward.
I drove the stake into his chest.
Within seconds, his body burst into flames and turned to ash.
I took a deep breath.
My first vampire kill.
Then I heard crying.
The little girl stood nearby.
I walked over to her.
"It's okay," I said. "You're safe now."
I tapped my earpiece.
"Alex, the mission is complete. Target eliminated."
"Good job, Leon," Alex said. "Any setbacks?"
I glanced at the girl and turned away slightly.
"Most of the family living here was killed," I said. "But one little girl survived. And her mother."
"Yeah," Alex replied. "Records say the family had five members."
I frowned.
"Are you sure?" I said. "Because there's a girl here and I'm pretty sure there were five people down in the—"
Then I remembered what the vampire said.
How did you find us?
I slowly turned around.
The little girl was gone.
"Leon?" Alex said. "What's going on? Do you copy?"
"Yeah, I cop—"
Before I could finish speaking, something slammed into me and threw me across the room.
I crashed into another wall.
This thing was strong.
Much stronger than the vampire I had just killed.
I looked up.
The little girl stood in front of me.
But she wasn't a little girl anymore.
Her eyes were blood red, veins spreading across her face.
She was a vampire.
An old one too.
Judging by her strength, probably around three hundred years old.
My comms were broken.
No backup.
I glanced at the black stake lying on the floor.
She followed my gaze.
Before I could move, she rushed me.
I dodged and ran toward the stake—
But she smacked me away.
She bent down and grabbed the stake.
Big mistake.
The moment she touched it, her hand burst into flames.
Only non-vampires could hold that stake.
While she screamed in pain, I started firing.
Bullet after bullet tore into her.
At least fifty rounds.
She collapsed.
I walked over to grab the stake and finish her—
But suddenly her eyes snapped open.
She bit into my arm and threw me into another room.
"Shit," I muttered, standing up. "I'm getting tired of being thrown through walls."
She licked her lips.
"Your blood…" she said slowly. "It's unlike anything I've tasted in my long life."
I frowned.
Did my blood just power her up or something?
She rushed me again.
But I was ready.
I pulled out a vervain grenade and detonated it at point-blank range.
The explosion filled the room with burning vervain.
She screamed as the toxin tore through her body.
I ran past her toward the stake—
Then remembered something.
The trap.
I had planned it this whole time.
I ran downstairs to the kitchen and waited behind the wall.
Eventually she came charging down the stairs.
The moment she entered the kitchen, I jumped aside and pressed a detonator.
The kitchen window exploded outward.
Sunlight flooded into the house.
The vampire screamed as the sunlight burned her skin.
The explosion also blew apart half the house.
The black stake flew through the air.
I caught it.
As she tried to escape the sunlight, I drove the stake into her chest.
She burst into ash instantly.
I collapsed against the broken wall, breathing heavily.
My first vampire mission.
And damn… it was hard.
If it weren't for Umbrella's weapons, I might have died.
After catching my breath, I planted explosive charges around the house. The official story would be a gas leak explosion.
Umbrella handled cover-ups like that easily.
I got into my black Dodge Hellcat and drove away.
Once I was far enough away, I pressed the detonator.
The house exploded behind me.
That was my first mission.
My first vampire kills.
Since then, I've killed 149 vampires.
Now my operator was Grace.
We made a pretty good team.
And today's mission was something special.
We had a lead on a powerful witch named Abby Bennett.
She came from the powerful Bennett family bloodline.
Umbrella needed her help.
They had been working on a serum that could push normal humans to peak physical performance and beyond—something very similar to a super-soldier serum.
But the formula required a rare magical plant.
The problem?
The plant was hidden behind a cloaking spell so powerful that no witch Umbrella had access to could break it.
That's why we needed Abby Bennett.
Only a witch from the Bennett bloodline was strong enough to break that spell.
And if Umbrella got that plant…
They would finally complete the serum.