Disclaimer: Neither the Devil May Cry characters or the Harry Potter characters beong to me: They belong to Capcom and J.K. Rowling respectively. Liadan belongs to me though
A word of warning; this story does containing an OC in a major role. I have tried very hard not to make her a Mary Sue, so I would appreciate it if you kept your flames to yourself and only give me constructive criticism. If you do feel the need to flame me, then bear in mind that they will be laughed at and summarily deleted.
Anyway, on with the story. I hope you all enjoy it.
Jenni
"Fuck it woman, that hurts!" Trish winced at the crash that followed the oath, not daring to look over at the two clients seated on the sofa. Unfortunately for them, they had walked in one of the petty little arguments that sporadically occurred between Dante and Liadan since she had moved in a few months earlier. It wasn't easy for two independent people to learn how to live together and it didn't help that Liadan was still recovering from the beating that had culminated in the death of what would have been their first child. God knows what had prompted this particular quarrel, but it had rapidly escalated to extreme proportions and Trish suspected that Liadan had followed through with an earlier threat involving Dante and one of her daggers. "I'm not a fucking pincushion!" She couldn't help but snicker at that comment, which earned her a very disgusted glance from the prim looking woman.
In the back room, Dante yanked the dagger from his shoulder; amazed that Liadan had actually gone through with her threat. He had forgotten whatever it was that had prompted this fight, but it had now reached a point beyond any disagreement they had ever had. A sharp intake of breath caused him to look up and see that her mood had changed yet again and she was now staring at him with a horrified, guilty expression. Both Matier and Lucia had warned him that she might have mood swings and bouts of depression; after all, she had been through a traumatic experience. He knew that he couldn't understand how she felt; he had had no bond with the child, since he hadn't even known that she was pregnant until the day she miscarried. "Lia?" Her eyes were glazed over slightly in shock as she raised a hand to her mouth. She hadn't meant to actually go through with her threat, but something had snapped in her for a moment and she had wanted nothing more than to hurt him in the same way that she was hurting. She glanced up as his hands took hold of her shoulders, an unreadable expression on his face. "This isn't like you, woman." He murmured, "Tell me what's wrong." For a long few moments, she didn't speak and he could feel her trembling under his hands.
"It hurts." She finally whispered before bursting into tears, the first time she had done so since they returned from Dumary Island. Dante didn't speak; he had no idea what to say to the now hysterical woman in his arms. He had no experience of this sort of thing, so he did nothing except allow her to cry herself dry, hiccoughing against his neck as her sobs faded into snuffles.
"You know that I can't understand how you feel." He murmured, stroking her hair as she dried her face with a fist. "You never told me that you were pregnant after all." Silently she nodded against him.
"I know." Now that she had finally admitted to him how she felt it was as though a weight had been lifted from her. That wasn't to say that she no longer hurt, was no longer angry at what had happened or that a perverse part of her wanted him to feel the same way that she did, but simply knowing that he accepted her feelings even if he didn't share them was enough. A few moments later, she pulled away, "You'd better go and see if your clients are still there, while I got get cleaned up." She had been in her training gear of shorts and vest when the argument started and she felt sweaty and in need of a shower.
"They can't be too desperate if they're not going to wait a few minutes." He grumbled, tightening his hold on her.
"Dante..." her words were cut off as he bent his head and kissed her hard; fighting with his mate, either physically or verbally, had always had an aphrodisiacal effect on him, especially since she had been shying away lately whenever he became a little too intense. She used to enjoy 'rough and ready sex' and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he had missed it over the past few weeks. Slow, gentle lovemaking was all well and good, but sometimes he wanted it hard and dirty. "We shouldn't..." she whispered against his mouth, though the idea of making love while there were complete strangers on the other side of the door woke something inside her that she hadn't felt in weeks. "What if they hear us?" She wondered, as he walked her backwards until her spine hit the wall, the length of his body pressed against her, revealing a different kind of length as he arched his hips against her. Reflexively she shifted her legs to accommodate him, an act that drew out a groan from him as he nuzzled her neck.
That wasn't playing fair, Liadan mused fuzzily as his tongue and teeth caressed the highly sensitive area at the crux of her neck and shoulders, his hands weren't being idle either and she found herself arching into his palms, "I don't care if they hear us." He husked into her ear, suddenly grabbing the backs of her thighs and lifting her up off her feet, forcing her to wrap her legs round his waist. "I wanna fuck you..." underneath the growl in his voice, Liadan was pretty sure she heard a tinge of desperation; they were both beings of strong emotions and she had been denying them both chance to express the more primal aspect of their characters, something that she had never done before, hence his reaction to their argument. She wasn't really surprised when she found herself responding enthusiastically to his need.
"You want to fuck me?" She leaned forward and whispered, "You wanna fuck me up against the wall? Or maybe over the table?" His pale blue eyes widened in surprised delight at her reaction.
"Lia..." his voice cracked slightly, and she revelled in the feeling over having such power over him.
"Are you going to spank me for being a naughty girl?" Her hand slid down between them to feel that he was rock hard, "Oh, you poor thing, does it hurt?" She cooed, as he inhaled sharply at the feel of her fingers dancing lightly over him, a wicked gleam in her eyes as her fingers inched towards his belt. "Shall I kiss it better?" Through what little reasoning he had left as he watched Liadan sink to her knees in front of him, Dante wondered at her reaction to his rather crude advance towards her; to be honest he had expected another gentle brush off, but this return to what she was like when she decided to play dirty was not what he expected at all. Not that he was complaining, though he wished he had a mirror on the wall; it would be so hot to be able to watch her. Reaching down he fisted his fingers in her hair as her warm, moist mouth suddenly engulfed him,
"M'm, little vixen..." He watched the top of her head moving slowly back and forth. Any cognitive thought fled his mind, however, when she started humming, a little trick that she found drove him nuts. "Lia..." his voice ended in a strained moan as his head fell back, eyes closed as he focused on nothing but the actions of the woman in front of him.
Trish was just about ready to crawl under the table with embarrassment. She wasn't sure whether their would-be clients had hearing as sensitive as hers, but she was uncomfortably aware of the activity that Dante and Liadan were now indulging in. There were things that she didn't need to hear, and her adopted brother and his girlfriend having make-up sex was one of them.
The blonde devil was well aware of the assumptions that many of their acquaintances had regarding herself and Dante; most of them had been convinced that they would become a couple, if they weren't already, until he had introduced Liadan as his mate. Trish herself hadn't been surprised, Dante almost worshipped his mother and would never find her attractive for that reason; she just looked too much like Eva for anything to ever happen between them. Liadan was more or less Trish's physical opposite; shorter, plumper and dark haired. She was also a lot more forgiving of Dante's rather unique personality than Trish was, though one of the biggest reasons they worked so well together probably was the fact that they were both half-breeds and not readily accepted by either of their heritages. Whether it was a healthy basis for a relationship Trish didn't know, but then again all the psychological babble that Lady and Morrison discussed didn't take into account that using human values to explain the actions and thoughts of those who weren't didn't really work.
Liadan wrapped her arms round Dante's neck and shoulders as he slumped on top of her, breathing heavily and nuzzling at her neck while their bodies relaxed, despite the fact that being bent over backwards over the table in the corner of the room wasn't the most comfortable of positions, she enjoyed the feel of him breathing against her, his weight pressing down on her as they calmed down. She was going to be sore later though, and not just between her thighs; he had pinned her arms above her head by the wrists at one point, effectively torturing her by not allowing her to touch him while he slid his fingers between her thighs and used his thumb to fondle the small nub of nerves there, teasing her until she begged him to set her free, which was what he had wanted to hear.
"Ta grà agam duit." She whispered, bringing a hand down to trace her fingertips across his cheek.
"Huh?" He raised his head to frown in confusion, "What did you say?" She smiled slightly. Her grandmother had taught her quite a bit of the Irish Gaelic that the older woman had used when she was younger and a;though Liadan had forgotten a lot of it, she did occasionally use the insults and, more recently, the endearments that she could remember.
"It means 'I love you." She felt herself blushing, which was a little ironic, considering the situation they were in. "I never used it with anyone else." Dante smirked and carefully pushed himself off of her.
"I love you too, woman." The words might have been said a little flippantly but the look in his eyes was tender, though she doubted that few people had ever seen it. Liadan sighed softly as a feeling of being bereft swept over her as she felt him slide from within her, although it was nice to be able to feel her legs again. "I guess I'd better go see what our visitors want." He muttered, pulling his jeans on, but not bothering to fasten the top button. "What d'you think?" He wondered, holding his arms out in a typically cocky pose.
"Suitably mercenary, I'd say, and perfect for unsettling Miss Prim out there." Liadan snickered, then winced as she pulled her shorts back on.
"You okay?" He wondered, frowning at the visible grimace on her face as she pulled her bra and vest back on.
"Just sore." She smiled over at him, "That table isn't as comfortable as you may think." Especially when one was being rhythmically slammed against it, she added mentally.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" He knew that he was stronger than she was, even if her body was more robust than most other women, and he could easily hurt her badly if he wasn't careful.
"Dante, I'm fine." She stepped forward, enabling him to wrap his arms round her waist as she rested her hands on his chest. "I promise I'd tell you if I wasn't." She assured him, standing on tiptoes to kiss him again, though there wasn't the urgency that had been there before. "Although I think you owe me some new underwear." A smirk tugged her lips as she showed him the scrap of linen he had torn from her when he became too impatient to allow her to undress herself.
"I prefer it when you don't bother to wear stuff like that." He retorted as they headed towards the door. "Easier access." He added in reply to her quizzical look.
"Pervert." She tucked the ruined underwear into the pocket of her shorts as she exited the room.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Trish glanced over as Dante spoke, relieved that the couple had finally decided to join them out in the main office. The blond rolled her eyes at the pair; it was quite obvious what they had been up to, with Liadan was flushed and her clothes rumpled, while Dante hadn't bothered to put his shirt back on or even fasten his jeans up fully so that the crimson material rode low on his hips. Despite the fact that Trish didn't personally find him sexually attractive, she still had to concede that the look could be considered very sexy, in a primal sort of way and boy did he know it. How Liadan put up with the women who gravitated towards him whenever they were out in public Trish wasn't sure; though she had heard the rather creative and scathing insult he'd directed towards a particularly persistent young woman who hadn't liked the fact that he hadn't been infatuated by her and was more interested in a plainer, older woman.
"I'm going for a shower, Trish." Liadan called over her shoulder as she made her way up the stairs. Since the building's plumbing was so old, there were occasions when someone flushing the toilet or using the kitchen taps had ended up with someone been either scalded or frozen in the shower, so it had become a habit between all of them to let the others know when they were having a shower.
"What've we got here?" Dante wondered, flinging himself into the second sofa, facing the clients and propped his feet up on the table, "A couple of witches? And what does the illustrious wizarding world want with a humble devil hunter?" Trish blinked in surprise at his words and looked more closely at their two guests. Both were female, one more rotund and motherly looking while the other was tall, thin and rather prim looking. Their clothing had been admittedly strange, but Trish had taken them to be eccentrics. She hadn't encountered this so-called 'wizarding world' that Dante had spoken of before, and from the way he talked it was clear that he wasn't very impressed with the place. Even now there was clear disdain in his voice as he addressed the women. The pinch-faced woman cleared her throat,
"Professor Albus Dumbledore requested that Mrs Weasley and myself ask for your assistance and advice in a...demonic matter." Her voice and manner of speaking did nothing to disprove the initial impression of her, and there was just as much disdain in her voice when she spoke the word 'demonic' as there had been in Dante's voice. Dante snorted in amusement,
"And I suppose I should just ask how high, when the legendary Dumbledore says to jump? Just tell me what you want and I'll let you know if I'm interested or not." The woman blinked, then glanced over at her companion,
"I'm unaware of just what you know about the situation in the wizarding world in Britain at the moment," she hedged, "It's quite delicate..." Dante rolled his eyes,
"There's some kind of mad Dark Wizard called Voldemort who's trying to take over the world and the only thing standing between him and his goal is some little kid who's supposed to be destined to destroy him. I don't see anything 'delicate' about it, nor do I see what it has to do with me." He paused, "After all, you lot all seem to think you're better than us mere 'Muggles'. Surely you should be able to deal with one little psycho wanting to take over the world." He glanced over at Trish with a sardonic smile, "He can't be as bad as Chen the Cannibal, now there was a seriously sick fuck."
"Wasn't he the guy who created those demon hybrid things? The one that had the thing about giggling a lot?" She had been away on a different job at the time and didn't hear the full details about that until after his first trip to Dumary Island.
"Yeah, he created a lot of those things Arius used..." he paused, "Is there some kind of rule that says wannabe rulers of the world are sick, twisted sons of bitches?" Trish shrugged, then indicated the two bemused looking women with a nod of her head.
"We have recently received information that there may be someone in the wizarding world that has been summoning demons, perhaps on the Dark Lord's behalf. If that is true, then such creatures could be used to assassinate Mr Potter…"
"Not interested." Dante interrupted, "I'm a devil hunter, not a babysitter. This Voldemort guy is your problem; you protect the kid."
"Mr Dante," The woman's nostril's flared as her mouth became even more pinched, "The sacrifices made by Mr Potter and the rest of the wizarding world have allowed you and your...friends to be able to live in the manner you seem to think...appropriate." She glanced round the office in clear distaste and Trish saw Dante's eyes narrow and the energy in the room shifted subtly as his mood changed.
"You think I owe you?" When he spoke again his voice was dangerously soft, despite the languorous attitude of his body. "Where was the wizarding world when demons murdered my mother and kidnapped my brother? Where were you when Arkham raised Temen-ni-gru and bridged the gap between the human world and the demon world? How about when the Emperor of Hell tried to unseal his power and return to the human world on Mallet Island? I don't remember seeing any of you at Dumary Island when Arius attempted to absorb the demon Argosax's power in order to rule the world." He glared directly at the two women. "I owe you nothing. Trish, show them out; I'm going to join Lia."
A lot of the good mood he'd been in had vanished after the conversation with the two witches; it seemed apparent that the innate arrogance of the wizarding community was still alive and well, though he'd managed not to mention what else had happened on Dumary Island. Liadan would never have forgiven him if he'd said anything of her miscarriage to anyone. He was well aware that many people considered him to be overconfident, but he had never made a statement that he couldn't back up, whereas these people seemed intent on heaping their hopes upon the shoulders of a teenager, regardless of whether the kid could actually come up with the goods. From what he had heard their Boy who Lived hadn't even known he was a wizard until he'd been summoned to their boarding school in England; at least his mother and father had attempted to prepare himself and Vergil from a young age.
Recalling Liadan's injuries brought back memories he was still trying to repress, although he was pretty sure he'd never forget the sight that met his eyes once he, Trish and Lucia had destroyed the last of the demons Arius had set to guarding his library. Liadan crumpled on the stone floor in a pool of her own blood, grey eyes empty and glazed with shock. Her injuries had been so severe that the small clinic they had on the island wouldn't have been able to do anything and she wouldn't have survived long enough for a chopper to get her to the mainland. He'd had no choice but to make Matier use a green orb on her. Even so, strain of the brutal healing on her already weakened body had sent her into cardiac arrest and she had been clinically dead for a good few minutes. He couldn't recall all that much about that time, just the sickening feeling of complete loss as he watched Matier's healers desperately fighting to resuscitate her and Trish's hand on his arm, though whether she had been offering comfort or waiting to see if she was going to have to restrain him in some way he wasn't sure.
"Dante? Is that you?" Liadan's voice brought him out of his thoughts, and he realised that he had entered the bathroom and was standing in front of the smoky glass of the shower cubicle.
"Yeah. Thought I'd join you." The door clicked open and she poked her head out,
"Have the clients gone already?" She wondered, watching as he slipped out of his jeans before stepping back and allowing him inside the large cubicle. She had persuaded him to splash out a little on remodelling the bathroom, with the clincher being her assertion that they could shower together, as well as other things, if he agreed to have it done. He soon found that he enjoyed showering with her, though he drew the line at using some of the shower gels she bought, which seemed to multiply on a weekly basis. The woman was obsessed with the stuff, though he had noticed both Lady and Trish smelling of some of the same gels when they used the shower if a job became messy.
"I turned them down. They wanted a bodyguard, not a devil hunter." He wasn't sure if Liadan knew about the wizarding world and since she hadn't mentioned anything to him about the telltale feeling of human magic that surrounded the two women he decided to keep it to himself. He would keep an eye out for a while though, Albus Dumbledore was no doubt unused to being refused and Dante didn't hold with the general view that the guy was some kind of saviour. That was bull; everyone had a dark side and it didn't take a genius to see that the man was a manipulator, so he would be surprised if they didn't try to get him to change his mind. He didn't want to get involved in their little civil war; he had more than enough trouble with demons wanting a piece of him, which meant he didn't need a load of magical fanatics after him as well.
"Don't forget I'm at the book store this evening." She reminded him, leading him to sit down on the floor of the cubicle so that she could massage his shoulders with the only shower gel he'd allow her to use on him.
"H'm, that gives me chance to pay a visit to the girls at the Love Planet...ow!" He winced as she tugged his hair sharply, "Lia! You know none of them hold a candle to you."
"None of them would put up with the crap I get from you." She retorted, despite the smile in her voice. "I don't know why I do." Dante grinned,
"I give you the best sex you ever had."
"Ooh, modest, aren't we?" Lia snickered, wrapping her arms round his shoulders.
"Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it." He turned his head to nuzzle at her cheek. Truth be told, before he got together with Liadan, he had been a bit of a slut, hence his reputation at the Love Planet – at least until the incident when he got a bit too enthusiastic and one of the girls got hurt. He'd stopped after that; couldn't bring himself to run the risk of it happening again, but the girls had still liked him. He'd been a good customer but he had also been friendly with them, even going so far as to protect a couple of them who'd gotten themselves in trouble with clients who'd wanted more than the girls were willing to give. His mother had taught him that it didn't matter what job they did to earn their living; they had feelings just like everyone else. Perhaps he was a sentimentalist at heart, but he'd wanted a woman who he could love the same way his father had loved his mother. He'd found that with Liadan, a woman who was also a half-breed. Looking at her with a detached point of view, he knew that she wasn't as beautiful or as talented as some of those girls, but she understood him. She knew what it was like to feel different from everyone else, to think differently from 'normal' humans and to have abilities beyond what a human was capable of as well as being an orphan with no other family to be there for them. It was a bonus that her body was robust enough to be able to handle more of his strength than normal women, though he still had to be careful; he was well aware that the bruises round her wrists had been caused by his grip and it was probable that she'd have some bruising on her back too from where he'd had her against the desk. Even so, he could probably have been rougher if he'd allowed himself. There were, after all, major downsides to being as strong as he was.
"Seriously, are you thinking of heading down there tonight?" She resumed the massaging movements on his shoulders, drawing a heavy sigh of pleasure out of him. "Cause I could always meet you there after they cut me loose." Dante thought for a few moments. He'd really just mentioned the Love Planet to annoy her, despite the fact that she occasionally went there with him and was friends with some of the girls herself, but he vaguely recalled that Enzo was back in town after a few months spent back in Italy with his family. It would be a good idea to introduce her to his other agent, in case he ever needed to use her as a mediator.
"Sure, why the hell not? We haven't had a sniff of a decent job in ages and rumour has it that Enzo's back on the scene again, so he might have something for us."
"Good, because I have a surprise for you and I think it would fit in pretty well there." Liadan soon found herself regretting telling him that, since he then followed her round for the next couple of hours until she went to work, begging to know what she meant by that comment.
Enzo settled into his usual seat in the Love Planet with a pleased sigh, waving at some of the girls, who giggled and waved back. He wasn't ready to party with the ladies just yet; he wanted to get back into the swing of things first, find out what had been happening while he'd been in Italy. Not that much really changed, though he had heard rumours that Dante, of all people, had a woman. That would be a surprise if it were true; Enzo had been there when the silver haired man injured one of the girls and knew that he had more or less backed off of women in case the next injury was more serious. Until he saw it with his own eyes, Enzo wouldn't believe it.
"I'd heard you were back." The man in question flung himself down in a chair next to the little Italian, propping his ankles up on the table in the nonchalant attitude that typified the mercenary. Enzo studied his friend for a long few moments. There was a different aura about him a contented air about him that, as far as Enzo was aware, Dante had never had before. "You working tonight, or is this just for pleasure?" Enzo shrugged,
"Bit of both." He paused, "Pleasure, mostly. Need to get to know the new girls." He pointedly glanced round the club. "Maybe I'll start with that one." He pointed at a petite brunette, her hair fastened into two cute braids that were in complete contrast to the short soft black leather dress with a collar style halter-neck, which was cut low enough to display a peek of red lace. Her long legs were encased in crimson, skin-tight thigh high boots with high stiletto heels, with black lace stockings peeking over the tops of the boots. She wasn't the prettiest of the girls and she wore little to no make up aside from thin black liner round her eyes and blood red lipstick, but she was definitely new and had a wicked twinkle in her eyes as she glanced over at them. Dante followed his gaze and chuckled,
"I wouldn't bother with her if I were you, Enzo." He commented, watching the girl make her way towards them through heavy lidded eyes. This was obviously the surprise Liadan had been talking about that afternoon, he mused, allowing his gaze to travel the full length of her figure and back again. Their tryst in the training room had definitely reawakened her naughty side. The dark haired man frowned at his companion, opening his mouth to question him, but was interrupted by the girl arriving at their table.
"You boys having a private party, or d'you want some company?" Dante rolled his eyes and lowered his legs from the table.
"You're looking for a spanking, woman." He growled as she stepped forwards and stood with one leg either side of his knees.
"And you think you're the one who's going to give it to me?" She wondered, leaning forwards from the waist and using the arms of the chair to balance herself. He chuckled and grasped her round the waist,
"I'm pretty sure I already gave it to you this afternoon." He pointed out, lifting her onto his lap, "But I'll be more than happy to punish you again." Enzo felt his jaw drop slightly as Dante dipped his head to kiss the petite woman draped over his knee, one hand sliding up her thigh and under the leather skirt. The thing that probably surprised him most was that she was returning the gesture with just as much enthusiasm, sliding her fingers through Dante's pale hair to hold him in place. By the time they parted, both were breathing heavily, which wasn't something that Enzo could ever remember one of the girls in the Love Planet being able to do to him before; they simply didn't have the stamina for it. "Enzo, this is Liadan." Dante licked his lips while the girl settled herself into a more comfortable position on his knee, leaning against his shoulder and the arm of the chair.
"Your girlfriend?" The white haired man smiled slightly, left hand moving a little to allow the lights to catch on the red and gold ring he wore on his fourth finger. Once again, Enzo felt his jaw drop; he'd only been gone a few months, how could he not have known that Dante, of all people, had gotten married? Dante shrugged, absently watching Liadan as she picked up the large glass of wine that she'd deposited on the table before he'd lifted her onto his knee, the matching gold and jade ring on her wedding finger glinting too. Enzo wasn't surprised when neither of them answered that question; he knew that Dante was an incredibly private person at times, and he suspected that Liadan was the same.
"Hey, Lia!" A couple of the girls called out to the dark haired woman, who grinned and waved them over. Even though it was know well known amongst the girls that Dante was no longer on the market, it was also well known that when he decided to pay a visit to the Love Planet it usually meant a good night. It also helped that his partner was sociable as well and was perfectly happy to gather with some of the girls and gossip. This evening, however, she chose to remain ensconced on her husband's knee, with his arm possessively round her. Enzo meanwhile, divided his time between talking with Dante, drinking, flirting with the girls and surreptitiously watching the couple. Watching them was fascinating; they were physically affectionate, kissing and touching in a way Enzo had never seen Dante do even when he was drunk, a state which took some doing to achieve and the man was nowhere near to getting to that condition, though Liadan was a little tipsy.
It was nearly one in the morning and the Planet was beginning to wind down, Enzo had gone upstairs with a couple of the girls a little while earlier and the others had gone off in search of customers of their own, since it was obvious that neither Dante nor Liadan were seemingly interested in anything but each other.
"Shall we go home and have our own private party?" Liadan murmured in his ear, idly tracing her fingers in meaningless scrawl over his chest. "I've got some strawberries and cream in the fridge. You can make your own special sundae..." Dante hummed as her lips moved to caress his neck and the rest of her moved up so that she straddled his hips,
"My two favourite things, huh?" He tugged her head up and kissed her, "I think we're going home to play."
Despite the prospect of what waited for them back at the office neither felt the need to hurry, though that was largely in part due to the fact that Liadan didn't walk as quickly as she usually did when wearing stilettos. Her usual knee length boots were sturdy, lower heeled affairs, perfect for kicking demon ass, but not so much for seduction. Dante didn't mind too much since the heels forced her to alter her walk to emphasise the swaying of her hips and backside and he took full opportunity to rest his hand there with the excuse of holding her upright with her arm wrapped round his waist, all in all the typical pose of any couple heading home after a night out. The idea twisted something inside him momentarily, despite the fact that he knew that Liadan didn't want normal there were still times when he wished that he could give it to her.
"We're being stalked." It was testament to the strangeness of their lives that Dante didn't even alter his step at Liadan's whisper. He'd noticed it too; the feeling of eyes upon them, the faint clicking that was slightly out of sync with her heels and the smell of wet dog, but he'd wanted to focus more on her than on whatever was following them. A slight shudder ran through Liadan as she surreptitiously snuffed the air. "Werewolf." Oh. Shit. Liadan hated werewolves, though he had no idea why, however it did mean that there was no way he was going to get to make the 'special sundae' she had promised him.
They decided on a simple tactic, and one they had used against 'wolves before, with pretty good levels of success. Of course 'wolves tended to go towards Liadan nine times out of ten, probably something about females being more fun to toy with, to hear them scream or begging for their lives. Dante took grim satisfaction in knowing that the 'wolves were the ones who usually ended up screaming when they went up against his mate...then again that was when she wasn't wearing thigh high stilettos, so he really wanted the 'wolf to come after him this time. However, it didn't surprise him that when they separated the clicking claws and smell had followed the petite, less threatening looking woman rather than the six foot plus broad shouldered male who had been accompanying her. What did surprise him was the position his mate had managed to get herself in and how handy those sharp stilettos actually could be. If it weren't so real, then he could almost imagine it was some kind of black comedy; Liadan on her back, heels literally buried in the creature's forearms as she fought to keep its claws away from her while she had one hand on its upper and lower jaws. He winced a few seconds later, both at the snap of jaw separating and the creature's screams as it surged backwards, ripping the heels from its arms and scrabbling vainly at its loose lower jaw. His hand slid down to Ivory, nestled in the small of his back, but he made no other movement. Liadan was on her feet too, the black handled dagger she called Laisrián suddenly appearing in her hand. He still had to work out how she managed to call her weapons, given the fact that they weren't Devil Arms, but he suspected that they were in some way magical. To be honest, he didn't care all that much how Laisrián and it's partner, Muirinn worked, as long as they protected their mistress. He relaxed slightly at the sight of the blade in her hands, the steady stance despite the heels. The 'wolf was dead and perhaps it knew it too, if the look of pure hatred in its eyes was anything to go by. Of course, Liadan matched the look with one of her own and Dante swore to himself that she would tell him why she hated the creatures so much.
As soon as the killing rage had seeped out of her and they watched the flames from Muirinn consuming the body of the man it had once been, Liadan felt the adrenalin give way to nausea. "Dante..." Hard arms wrapped round her from behind, lifting her off her feet and allowing her to turn and burrow her face in his neck, holding her like a child as he walked them the few blocks home. She was grateful that he didn't speak, just rubbed her back in slow, gentle circles as he walked. She knew that he had always wondered why she was unpredictable around werewolves, but it was a part of her that she'd always tried to keep away from him, a part of her that she despised. He wasn't going to turn a blind eye, though, not this time. There hadn't been any need for her to rip the thing's jaw off and while she knew that he wasn't averse to having to resort to torture to get information, there was more than one reason why his nickname was Devil May Cry after all, he wouldn't have bothered if he'd been in her position; he'd have just put a bullet in its brain. Overkill was dangerous in their business, it meant you could slip up, give the thing a chance to pull itself together and get the upper hand back. He'd let her get away with it a couple of times before; it wasn't often they ran into 'wolves after all, but not this time. This time, he wanted answers.
Dante sighed inwardly as he lay in bed, watching her as she faced him with her gaze focussed on his chest. She hadn't spoken since he'd picked her up and carried her away from the rapidly smouldering corpse of the 'wolf, not even when he'd undressed and showered them both and her gaze had been flickering to anywhere but his. He hadn't spoken much either, aside from asking her to move this way or that, or if the water was too hot or too cold, but that was because he had no idea of what to say or how to get her to talk. Despite the fact that Liadan was probably the person he was closest too, emotionally speaking, he didn't exactly have a great deal of experience in getting reluctant people to talk; he usually left that to the women if they were with him, or sheer intimidation if they weren't. He didn't want to use such tactics with her, but he was damned if he had any idea of how to broach this subject with her. What he did know was that he was tired of her not looking at him, not least because he enjoyed looking into her dove grey eyes when they spent time in bed. It wasn't often that they simply slept in bed; even having sex in it was an unusual occurrence, since most of their time was spent either in the office, training or out on missions. Nearly every surface and wall downstairs had been used to make love or fuck on or over, but the bed was different. It was place where they simply lay together, sometimes not even speaking or moving and if they did do anything it was always slow and gentle, putting into actions words that they rarely spoke, emotions that went beyond words. He didn't like the way she now hid herself from him, here of all places.
Liadan reluctantly looked up as Dante reached out with a hand and tilted her chin up. There was no accusation in his eyes as he watched her silently and she wondered how many people had ever seen him like this; so open and calm. She liked to think that she was the only one, but she wasn't sure whether she believed it. "There are four main clans of were-beasts; feline, canine, avian and reptilian." She murmured as he lowered his hand to twin fingers with her. "My family comes from the canine clan, specifically the vulpine group, though there aren't really any rules saying that we can't mate with other groups; prevents inbreeding, since there generally aren't that many true were-beasts left in the world." The reasons behind that were wide and varied, and not the topic of this particular conversation, "Non-were-beasts are usually discouraged from forming any kind of relationship with us. Needless to say, it took a long time for the were-beast side of the family to accept my dad, and they insisted that he leave the human world behind if he wished to stay with my mother." She sighed; this was also off topic. "As a race of beings, were-beasts are incredibly long lived compared to humans; a couple of hundred years isn't unusual, though I have no idea how long I'll live, being half human. My grandmother was one of the eldest, nearly four hundred years old and I used to love sitting and listening to her stories about the past." She took a deep breath, "There was one story I never did like, even less because I knew it was true; the other clans talked about it a lot, especially after the canines began to come out of hiding."
"Hiding?" She nodded.
"You know about the wizarding world?" If he was surprised by her question, he didn't show it, just nodded. "Do you know the real origins of werewolves?" He shook his head. "They were were-beasts, a long time ago." She whispered. "When my grandmother was a child, the elite in the wizarding world decided that they needed something to protect their gold and secrets; something powerful, but loyal. They used to use Dementors, but they weren't easy to control and would just as easily turn on their masters as their intended victims." Dante didn't need a signpost to tell him where this was going; he might put on the act of being a dumb adrenalin junkie at times, but he wasn't stupid. However, he knew Liadan and if he interrupted her now, no matter that he wanted to save her the pain that he could see building in her eyes, she'd clam up and never mention it again. "Their magic doesn't work on adults, though, so they took the children before they'd had a chance to build up an immunity."
"Your grandmother?" Liadan shook her head, laughing bitterly in relief.
"No." A pause, "They took her sister." She closed her eyes, "They hadn't decided which clan to use, so they took some from each…god, Dante…what they did to them…" She swallowed heavily and he moved closer, sliding a leg between hers, pulling her hips towards him, her hands finally resting on the front of his shoulders. "My family managed to get her back, before the different clans escaped into the human world to go into hiding, but they'd already broken her." Her breath hitched, "I used to sit with her and read to her when I got older, long before dad died. I don't know if she heard me though. She would just stare at nothing; it was like dealing with a fucking doll...except at night." She was vaguely aware of his body against hers, of the scent of him and the sound of his breathing, the soft thrum of the sheer power that inhabited his body and soul. She would never have that level of power, would never want it, but to know that it protected her was a balm like no other. "Sometimes, at night, she would scream and fight. We...we had to strap her down, to stop her hurting herself..." it had been years since she'd thought about those nights, lying awake listening to the pleading and snarling of an old woman, the sobbing of her grandmother as she tried to calm her sister down, her hatred of the people who had done this, not only to her clan but all the were-beasts, just because they wanted to play God.
"They can't do anything to you. You said it yourself." He finally said as he stroked her hair and felt the tension melt out of her. "Their magic doesn't work on you any more…"
"I know…but…" she shook her head slightly, "I'm scared that the wizards who did that to my grand aunt will come back and try to take my children from me…" Dante stifled the sigh he felt building; it both angered and frustrated him, the effects that the debacle on Dumary Island had had on Liadan. From what he had gathered in the conversations he had had with Matier while she was recovering from her physical injuries his mate had been permanently changed by all this; she would never forget the child she had carried and although she would eventually heal emotionally it would take a long time and no doubt affect her ideas about such things.
"You still want kids, then?" He wondered softly. They never even discussed something like that before; he didn't think it had crossed either of their minds until she had actually fallen pregnant and for the first time since finding out that he had had a chance at fatherhood, he wondered what the child would have looked like. Would it have looked like him? Her? Both of them? Would it have had her gentle personality or his brash cockiness? He didn't dare voice any of these questions; it would be too hard for her to hear right now, but he couldn't stop his hand smoothing over the slight bump of her stomach, imagining her swollen with his child and damn, if the thought didn't send a bolt of desire through him. He was a possessive lover, he knew that already, but he'd never dreamed that the thought of her being pregnant would turn him on.
"Eventually...maybe..." She bit her lower lip nervously; well aware of his body's reactions, though unaware of why he was reacting. "If...if you want..." A small squeak escaped her as his hand caught her cheek and tilted her head up again to meet his eyes. The pale blue of his eyes were circled in crimson, and they stared at her with such possessiveness that if it hadn't been Dante gazing at her, she would have been running for the hills. "Dante…?" He blinked once, and the red light was gone, the blue irises soft and loving, just as they always were when he looked at her when they were alone. She had only ever seen his eyes do that once before; when they were doing the rounds of the underground fight clubs. One of the other fighters had got it into his head to try and seduce her in a vain attempt to throw the match. The guy hadn't been too pleased when he attempts at seduction hit a brick wall and Dante had been livid, despite the fact that at that point in time their relationship had been little more than 'fuck buddies' with a bit of friendship on the side, and had nearly killed the guy which had in turn sparked off an old fashioned bar room brawl and a ban for both herself and Dante from all the fight clubs in the area. That night was also the first time they had really made love, rather than simply had sex and he had first shown his possessive side, continually telling her that she was his, and only his.
"What're you thinking about?" He wondered, hand moving to rest warmly on her hip and watching as her eyes fluttered closed, a small smile on her lips,
"A certain bar room brawl a few years ago."
"Oh?"
"Uh huh." She stretched up and kissed his jaw, "No one I'd ever been with fought for me like that. They thought I wanted to fight my own battles, and it freaked them out that I could fight better than they could." It didn't surprise him; very few men's egos could tolerate the idea that their women didn't need protecting and, as was in Liadan's case, were more than capable of defending themselves from most attackers. Dante, on the other hand, found it a complete turn on as well as an assurance that he wouldn't have to be with her 24/7 just to make sure that she was safe. That wasn't to say that he wouldn't defend what he considered to be his; his nature demanded that he do exactly that, but he didn't need to constantly watch her, which would eventually put a dampener on any relationship. Besides, he never could stomach a woman who played the helpless female; his mother had never done that even after his father died and none of the women he had as friends could ever be considered frail or weak, not even Patty with her sometimes frightening idea of what was 'cute'.
"I fight for what's mine." He growled softly, "And you are mine." She sighed into his mouth as he kissed her, pulling her as close as possible. He was going to have to be gentle with her, considering how sore she probably was following their earlier session, but that matched his mood; he wanted to make love to her, to bind her as close to him as he could.
Dawn was just breaking when Liadan woke a few hours later with Dante curled round her back, arms round her waist as he slept. It wasn't often that they slept in this bed together; they usually slept at odd times during the day and normally on the couches downstairs. Carefully she extracted herself from his hold and pulled a dressing gown on, heading over to the window. She had watched the sun rise a lot while at Dumary Island, the fresh grief and nightmares had made it difficult to sleep back then and watching the sun rise had become a kind of habit. She had noticed that Dante had never made a comment regarding her hesitant question about perhaps having another child. Perhaps he didn't want to risk having children with her, considering the fact that she had failed to protect the one that they had had, even if it hadn't even made it to being born. "You love me, right?" Dante's sleepy voice came from the bed, causing her to turn and see him curled on his side, watching her through half closed eyes. Slowly, she nodded, "Then don't look at the window like that and come back to bed." He sighed mentally as she slowly moved back to the bed, shedding her dressing gown and climbing into the bed again. Dante slept lightly, always had done, and had woken the moment she had slipped out of bed. He had watched her silently as she gazed out the window, until the look in her eyes shifted into one of a longing that he didn't like, especially when it was directed towards the second floor window. He knew that he was fast enough to get to her before she was fully out of it, but the fact that she would even consider it scared him.
He found himself down in the training room later that morning, having left Liadan still asleep. Waking to find her apparently contemplating throwing herself out of their bedroom window had both scared and reminded him that she had changed during the past few weeks. He had buried his own feelings regarding her miscarriage, preferring to focus instead on doing whatever he could to help Lia, as well as not wanting to admit to himself that she was one of the few weaknesses he had. He still felt nauseas whenever he thought about finding her back in the middle of Arius' wrecked library. He had honestly believed her to be dead for those few brief minutes and that agony had been overwhelming. For her sake he'd have destroyed Dumary Island and every demon that had managed to escape through the rip in the fabric of the barrier between the Underworld and the human world, nothing and no one would have stood against him and survived. Seconds later a wave of despair had washed over him; no matter what he did, it wouldn't have brought her back to him and that knowledge had hurt most of all. Not even his father had had the ability to bring the dead back to life. When he realised that she was still alive, the relief all but knocking the air out of him, forcing Trish to keep him upright. At that moment even the death of the unborn child she carried had been worth her life, though he would never tell her that; he knew now how deeply that had hurt her and he admitted to feeling more than a little jealous of that unborn child, despite the fact that he hated feeling that way.
"You want to be alone for a while?" He glanced across from where he'd settled against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him. Liadan leaned against the door frame, barefoot and wearing loose black linen trousers and matching sports top, her hair tied back in a braid, though she didn't look as rested as Dante would have liked.
"You should still be in bed." He chided, holding his arm out in a silent indication that she should join him. Liadan shrugged and moved to between his legs as he drew his knees up to give her room, his arms wrapping round her as she rested against him, her legs tucked beneath her.
"Couldn't sleep without you." She shrugged, "Besides, it's not as though we won't have catnaps during the day." A sigh brushed against his bare chest, "I'm sorry, about this morning." His arms tightened round her slightly.
"I can't understand why you would want to do something like that..."
"I don't understand it either. " She admitted, absently twining their fingers and enjoying the rarity of him not wearing his gloves. "It just that sometimes it feels as though nothing good is ever going to happen again, or that I don't deserve anything good and that you'll realise that one day and I'll be completely alone."
"You're my wife, Lia. You know what that means to me." She sighed again. Of course she knew; Dante wasn't the type of man who took such vows lightly and the fact that there wasn't a formal contract between them didn't mean anything to him. As far as he was concerned she was his woman and it was a permanent arrangement.
"I know, and that makes it worse, because I know that I'm being selfish and that just makes me feel even lower for doubting you." Dante sighed inwardly, closing his eyes. He hated feeling this helpless; it wasn't an emotion he was accustomed to in the first place and when it involved his mate it hurt even more.
"You're allowed to be selfish, Lia. God knows I am when it comes to you." He smirked slightly at her giggle. "Just…come find me if you feel like that again." He wasn't at all sure what he was going to do when, or if, she did, but what else could he do? He wasn't a shrink and even if he was he was pretty sure it was against some kind of ethics for a psychiatrist to treat spouses. "Now, didn't you promise to spar with me using Agni and Rudra against Laisrián and Muirinn?"
At least one thing was back to normal, Trish mused, as she propped her ankles up on the table. She had been hanging round the office for the last few weeks just to make sure that Liadan was going to be okay, but she was beginning to feel the wanderlust again and she got the impression that Dante wouldn't complain too much if he got the office back to himself. The sound of metal against metal as Dante and Liadan sparred was comforting in an odd way, a constant amongst the strangeness that was the life of a devil hunter (although there were more often than not days of complete boredom while you waited for the next job). Despite the fact that Liadan wasn't as strong or resilient as either herself or Dante, she knew how to take care of herself and even Dante admitted that she was exceptional with those stupidly long daggers of hers. She did worry about what would happen to him if he outlived Liadan; half-breed demons were exceptionally rare and there were none in existence that were as powerful as he was. His reaction to the hypothetical death of the one he considered his mate had frightened Trish. She was still learning about humans and their myriad emotional states, but she was positive that what she had witnessed in her adopted brother and occasional hunting partner at that moment had been nothing less than sheer devastation, despite the fact that he had tried so desperately to hide his reaction, she knew him well enough to see the difference in him. She imagined it was something akin to the expression he had had after his mother's death; so lost and vulnerable. It was sometimes easy to forget that underneath the cocky, confident exterior and the sheer power he had, Dante was still very young, especially for a demon and the childlike expression of loss in his eyes as he looked at what he had believed to be the corpse of the one woman he would have given everything to protect was heartbreaking to witness, despite...or because of...the fact that he had forced himself to try and give her up, under the guise of protecting her. Trish had had her own opinions on that decision, but she had kept them to herself considering the mood that he had been in during the couple of months he had been apart from Liadan. He'd been more short tempered than usual, snapping at everyone for the most petty things and as for his customers...Trish had lost count how many of them she'd had to appease after he'd torn a strip off them, though the women who'd tried to pay him off with things other than money she'd not even bothered trying to soothe; they deserved everything they'd got as far as she was concerned, lowering themselves to that degree just to save a little money when they could more than afford the fee. The girls who worked in the Love Planet wouldn't stoop to that level unless they were desperate and even then it would be a last resort.
The loud cracks and surges of strange energies caused the blonde demon to open her eyes curiously, before sighing in annoyance at the newcomers. "I'm sure Dante turned your request down, and he doesn't change his mind easily." The same tall, thin woman Dante had declared a witch was now accompanied by a man and two teenage boys, though what she hoped to accomplish by bringing them, Trish had no idea. She lowered her feet and opened her mouth, intending to find out what the witch intended, when the training room burst open in a hail of splinters, closely followed by a black blur holding two daggers and spitting curses at the red trousered figure that sauntered out and leaned back against the wall, his red and blue scimitar style swords dangling loosely from his hands. Trish winced as Liadan landed quite heavily on the couch, though she managed to stabilise it before it toppled over. A euphoric snarl tugged at her lips and her grey eyes were tinged with lupine yellow while Dante's pale eyes were ringed with a thin line of dark crimson light, an energy pulsing from him that only appeared when he was sparring with Liadan.
"D'you submit, woman?" Dante drawled, twirling Agni and Rudra lazily as he began to stride towards her,
"You wish." She hissed, bearing her teeth and spinning Laisrián and Muirinn. They were stalking round each other now, studying the other's movements, waiting for their next opportunity to strike. Neither of them paid any attention to their audience, most of whom were clearly rattled by the rather unorthodox entrance and the actual sparring itself, which was, as usual, full contact though nowhere near full strength; as far as both Dante and Liadan were concerned training meant pushing themselves as far as they could in order to better themselves, and they were both bound and determined to get Liadan to a point where she could hold her own against Trish and most other demons they might run into. Trish was positive that they also used it as some kind of strange foreplay. Hopefully today would be one of the days where they didn't get amorous; there was only so long she could tolerate listening to those kinds of sounds, especially when she considered Dante to be a sibling.
"I thought I told you to get rid of the witch, Trish." He commented, dancing to one side to evade one dagger and bringing Agni up to deflect another, while his leg raised to block a kick.
"I did, but you didn't say she couldn't come back." The blonde pointed out facetiously, drawing his attention momentarily and allowing Liadan to tackle him to the ground and straddle his waist. It was never a good idea to allow his attention to be drawn away when he was sparring with her; they were competitive when it came to their sparring matches and he didn't want her chalking up a win against him. Liadan squeaked in surprise when he blocked her double blow with Agni and Rudra and shoved her back and off of him. By the time she was back in a fighting stance, he too was on his feet.
"You've been consorting with witches behind my back, dearest?" Liadan hissed, with only a slight teasing quality to her voice. Dante was pretty sure if she had been shifted her tail would be swaying dangerously.
"You seriously think I'd choose that over you?" He cocked a hip and rested Rudra on one shoulder, indicating the tall, grey haired woman staring at them both with a pinched expression on her face. "Nice to know what you think of my taste, woman." Liadan's eyes narrowed, "Look, she came to the office yesterday, remember?" She sighed and nodded,
"The job you turned down." Dante nodded and turned his gaze back onto the witch,
"And it's still turned down, so why don't you lot hop back on your brooms and get the hell out of my shop."
"There is nothing I would like more, Mr Dante." The witch retorted snottily, "However, it has been decided that you need to be informed of recent events." Dante tilted his head to one side, curiosity piqued despite himself; it was only good business sense to know what was going on in the world, knowledge was power after all and even though he rarely bothered to involve himself in the wizarding world it wouldn't do to turn down information, although he would be checking whatever this woman had to tell him with his own sources.
"Fine." Dante turned and placed Agni and Rudra on their stands, while Liadan followed suit with Laisrián and Muirinn, though she wasn't all that happy with the situation. He understood that; if he had any choice in the matter he wouldn't have anything to do with the wizarding world either. "Talk." He flung himself carelessly down on one couch, while Liadan perched herself on the arm next to him.
"Fenrir Greyback is dead." The pale, sickly looking man accompanying the group stated, as though that was an explanation in itself.
"Is that supposed to mean something to us?" Dante's question was clearly unanticipated by any of the group, who turned stunned expressions on each other.
"Fenrir Greyback was considered the most dangerous werewolf in the world, and was a member of the Dark Lord's retinue."
"I'm still not sure what kind of reaction you're expecting from us." Dante stretched and yawned absently. "What business is it of ours if some werewolf runs into something more dangerous than it is?" An involuntary flinch escaped the man seated across from him confirmed the group of devil hunters' earlier suspicions; and more than enough in Liadan's case. Even with reflexes similar to those of the hunters, the wizard's hand had only just caught the inside of his robe before Liadan had him backed against the wall, Muirinn tightly pressed against his throat. "Unless, of course, it had a pack?" Dante had risen from his chair and was now pacing behind Liadan, Rebellion swinging casually in his grip, but the cold look on his face told the man that Dante was anything but blasé.
"Don't move!" The sound of Trish's guns cocking and the scraping of her chair as she got to her feet indicate that the 'wolf's companions had made a move towards them.
"Leave him alone! He's not done anything to you!"
"If we had been any other devil hunters he'd have been dead the minute he walked through the door." Liadan retorted with a snarl, though she was intrigued as the werewolf counted his odds and lowered his hand; the expression on his face was not that of ferociousness or revenge. If anything he simply looked resigned and exhausted.
"I am not a member of any pack." The man murmured, his pale brown eyes matching Liadan's gaze. She had to admit that he was brave, to say the least. "Greyback infected me when I was a child, after my father offended the Dark Lord." For a long few moments, Dante studied the man in front of him. There were no signs that he was lying; no change in his scent or perspiration levels. Glancing over towards his mate, he was relieved to see her shake her head a little, before she relaxed slightly. Realistically, if the man had been part of a pack they wouldn't have let him get to the state he was in.
"That doesn't answer the question of why you've come back." Dante stepped back and allowed Liadan to take Rebellion and place it back on its stand along with Muirinn. "I told you that I'm not interested in babysitting." He smirked slightly at the insulted glare the black haired kid passed his way. "Besides, Voldemort's your own fault, you know?" He sauntered back to the sofa and dropped elegantly onto the cushions, kicking his legs out to rest his ankles on the coffee table. "All that crap about bloodlines." He snorted, "Pathetic, considering how strong half bloods can end up being." Dante himself was almost stupidly powerful, with many in the know believing that he was rapidly becoming more than his father's equal in both skill and power. Liadan suspected that his almost overwhelming capabilities were a result of his human side, considering the slightly disturbing method of gaining strength demons had. The more pain a demon took and survived, generally the stronger they became and both Trish and Liadan suspected that because of his human capacity for emotions, which the majority of demons did not possess, Dante was somehow able to take that emotional pain and add that to the power he gained though the physical injuries he suffered. It would also explain how he had managed to defeat his twin, who he grudgingly admitted was his superior in terms of swordsmanship and tactics. Vergil, however, had chosen to reject his human heritage and refused to acknowledge his emotional side and thus had not developed his powers in the way Dante had.
"Mr Weasley." The older witch's warning voice caused the clearly outraged red headed boy to snap his jaw shut, though that didn't stop him glaring angrily at Dante, no doubt annoyed at the casual derogatory comments regarding the wizarding world. She turned her attention back to the white haired man lounging across from her. If she had a choice in the matter she wouldn't have returned to this place, nor would she have even considered going to this man for assistance the first time, never mind after he had so rudely dismissed herself and Mrs Weasley. Professor Dumbledore, however, was adamant that this Dante was the only person who could assist them in identifying demonic artefacts. McGonagall doubted that; if there was one devil hunter, then surely there were more, but Dumbledore was insistent that they attempt to obtain Dante's services. She might not trust this strange man, but Dumbledore was a different matter. "Mr Dante. I am aware that in our previous conversation I was perhaps a little…"
"Arrogant?"
"…harsh in my assumptions." McGonagall ignored the small smirk the man cast up to the woman perched on the arm of the sofa beside him.
"So what changed your mind?" It had to be something pretty serious to change this woman's opinion, Dante mused, as her lips thinned and her eyes flickered to the kids with her. That meant it was obviously something to do with them, which would explain why she had brought them with her.
"When we returned to the school we were informed that some students had been attacked in the Forbidden Forest." The older woman sighed and clasped her hands together nervously. "There have been rumours of strange creatures being sighted there for months, but there was no evidence to show that they were anything more than tricks of the light or overly excited imaginings."
"What do these...creatures look like?" Dante leaned back into the corner of the sofa, arms tucked behind his head and eyes closed as he listened to one of the kids, the boys by the sound of it, take over commentary.
As she listened to the story, Liadan felt her heart sink. Despite his outward persona, she was well aware that Dante had a heart, as well as a definite soft spot for kids and a very strong sense of right and wrong and it was more or less a foregone conclusion that he was going to take this job, considering this new information. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he knowingly left hundreds of kids in danger from demons, whether they were witches and wizards or not, which meant that he would be gone for an unknown amount of time, since she had no desire to set foot in the wizarding world. They hadn't been apart from each other for longer than a day in months, since Matier had performed a marriage ceremony for them and she wasn't exactly relishing the thought of being without Dante's presence, especially if she had another episode as the one in their bedroom earlier that morning. It wasn't as though she enjoyed feeling the way she did at times; the feelings of worthlessness and apathy would suddenly wash over her, perhaps trigged by something inconsequential, and the thought of what it would do to Dante if she did succeed in taking her own life perversely added guilt to the mix, which served only to make her feel even worse. "It sounds like you might have something to interest me after all." He declared when the story was finished. "It's going to cost you, though." That comment caused the woman, apparently called Professor McGonagall, to stiffen and glare at him a little contemptuously. "You didn't really think I was going to do this out of the goodness of my heart, did you?" He snorted. "I have a business to run, and demon hunting isn't exactly a risk free occupation. I have other people to consider after all." Liadan felt his hand rest on the base of her spine for a moment before sliding down and allowing his arm to drape over the arm of the sofa. He meant her, of course. All three women in Dante's life were well known in the demon world; Lady had been involved in killing demons since before the events of Temen-ni-gru, while Trish had originally been a creation of the Emperor Mundus himself. Liadan was relatively new to the world of devil hunting, but was probably more of a target than either of the other women since she might end up continuing the Sparda bloodline, which was not something the devils wanted to happen. If something ever happened to Dante, especially if they had children or she was pregnant at the time, she would need all the help she could get.
"How much?" Dante shrugged,
"Ten thousand retainer fee. Any other costs depend on what happens when we find out exactly what we're dealing with."
"That's obscene!"
"You want the best, you've got to pay for it. There are only a couple of other people who are even close to my league and I know you haven't approached them, besides, I'll be bringing Lia as well." He ignored the annoyed glare he received from that quarter.
"How do you know we won't go to these other people?" Another careless shrug,
"Trish is sat right there; she's going to get a cut whatever happens since she's my partner, and Lady would come to me anyway, so it doesn't really matter, though she'd probably charge you twice as much." Liadan snorted; even though she got on relatively well with the other woman, that didn't mean she agreed with the 'debt' that she considered Dante owed her, nor did she like the way Lady would foist jobs on him and then keep the lion's share of the reward for herself, no matter what happened. "That's my offer, take it or leave it." McGonagall scowled at the smirk on the man's face; he was no doubt aware that there wasn't really enough time for them to start searching round for another hunter, even if the Headmaster hadn't specifically said that he was the one he wanted.
"Very well, you shall have your retainer." She sighed. "With one stipulation; that you return to Hogwarts with us today."
"Dante? A word?" Liadan got to her feet and made her way to the kitchen, slamming the door behind them. "If you think I'm going anywhere with those people you're out of your mind." She hissed. "Take Trish with you if you need a partner."
"Trish has her own jobs. Morrison can baby-sit the office for a few days, besides, I'm sure as hell not leaving you on your own after that stunt you pulled this morning." He retorted. "Do you seriously think I want to be hundreds of miles away from you if you decide to try another swan dive out our bedroom window?"
"Don't be ridiculous…"
"Are you saying you can honestly tell me that it's never going to cross your mind again?" The knowing tone in his voice made it very tempting to say 'No', but she was well aware that it wouldn't be the truth, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. "You think you were the only one affected by what happened on Dumary Island?" She looked up, startled when he took hold of her shoulders and shook her slightly, "Damnit, Lia, I thought you were dead." Liadan blinked, grabbing hold of his forearms to steady herself. She couldn't remember much of what had happened in Arius' library, apart from trying to protect herself and Michael, and the pain. She remembered the pain all too well. Matier had told her Dante had been there, as well as Trish and Lucia, but he hadn't said anything and Matier had refused to elaborate further.
"What happened when you and the others got into Arius' library?" Dante blanched and glanced away; he didn't like recalling how helpless he had felt, how heartbroken and angry he had been at Starkweather for being so stupid as not to listen to the warnings he had been given about Arius' library and at himself for his selfishness at abandoning her. "Dante?"
"I can't, not yet." He shook his head before taking a breath. "Look, I know the wizarding world isn't your favourite subject, and I can't really blame you, but you know I can't leave those kids to be eaten alive by devils, especially since their magic won't work on the things..."
"And you don't really trust me enough to leave me on my own for long periods of time. I know." She pulled away and flopped down onto a chair near the rarely used kitchen table. "I just...I've always been terrified of them, ever since Grandmother started telling me those stories when I was a child."
"You don't really think that I'd let anything happen to you?" He bristled at the very idea, which caused a small smile to tug her lips.
"You're not omnipotent, regardless of your powers." It was rare, if not unheard of, for Dante to physically flinch away from anything, but the reminder of Liadan's near death experience had just such an effect on him.
"That was uncalled for." He pouted and flopped into the chair opposite her. Of course, he would never admit to pouting, even on pain of death, but she thought it was kind of cute.
"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it." She sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb.
"Lia, if you really can't face going to the wizarding world, I won't force you to." Dante moved forward to kneel in front of his wife, resting the palms of his hands on her thighs. He waited until she looked at him, "I just think that you're tarring them all with the same brush because of what your Grandmother told you." She blinked in surprise; clearly not expecting him to say something like that. "You wouldn't say that I was the same as Vergil, would you? Or that Lady was the same as her father?" She shifted uncomfortably on her seat, unwilling to meet his gaze, which told him that his point was coming through loud and clear, even if she didn't verbally acknowledge it. "Besides, you could call it a belated honeymoon." He smirked as she stared at him, "Why not? A few days in a magical castle, a bit of fighting, a lot of time in the bedroom..." he waggled his eyebrows playfully as she giggled and blushed. "What d'you think?"
"I think you've got a dirty mind." She retorted,
"Ha, that's rich coming from you, Miss Kinky Boots." He snickered, recalling the thigh highs she had been wearing the night before, never mind the fancy lingerie she had a predilection for. The smile faded from Liadan's face gradually and she reached out to touch the side of his face,
"I don't want you to start thinking that you have to stay with me all the time." She murmured. "You're my husband, not my bodyguard."
"It's part of the job description, sweetheart." That comment elicited a scowl from her.
"You know I don't like feeling out of control."
"Indulge me for a little while then." He leaned forwards, smoothing a hand over her hair, "I promise I'll back off when we come back." Liadan sighed,
"You're not going to let this one go, are you?" He smiled slightly and shook his head.
"Nope." His hand moved to cup her cheek, his thumb stroking along her lips. "I know how hard it is to give up control, but let me take care of you, just for a while." For a few moments Liadan didn't speak. If she ignored the fact that it would be the magical world they were going to, the idea of leaving the area for a while to go somewhere that didn't have any memories attached would be a relief and Dante would protect her with everything he had if need be, a fact which warmed her despite her protestations. It had been such a long time since she'd needed anyone to take care of her that it was difficult to relinquish control to anyone, even the man she considered her husband. Luckily, Dante was well aware of how difficult it was...although she had to admit that it was so tempting to just let go of it all for a little while, to let him be the strong one for them both.
"Only until we get back." She sighed, pointedly ignoring the sigh of relief that came from him.
If she had anything to do with the way they got back home from this job, Liadan was adamant that they were not going to use the same method they used to get to King's Cross. The wizards had called it 'portkeying', but she found that name too innocent for the way it had made her stomach roil in protest; it had been worse than morning sickness and she point blank refused to go through that again. Dante had taken one look at her pale face, liberally tinged with green and hurriedly agreed, even if it meant him having to fly them back. It certainly hadn't helped the uneasy feeling that had made itself known in the pit of her stomach the moment she agreed to go.
"Move over, woman, you're driving me nuts." She blinked as Dante's voice broke into her jumbled thoughts and he gently shoved her down to one end of the bench seat of the train compartment they were gathered in. It was then that she realised her leg had been twitching nervously, something that was guaranteed to annoy him and since they were in public they couldn't really work off the energy in the way they had become accustomed to. As he had informed her the first time he'd seen it, there were plenty of other things for her legs to be doing, if she had an abundance of energy. She watched in amusement as he stretched out, settling his head on her lap and turning his face in towards her stomach as he grumbled under his breath about jumpy women and fucking boring train rides. It only took moments for his eyes to close and his breathing to even out as he fell asleep, though it would only be a matter of seconds for him to wake if something happened.
Even now, years after they first got together and months after Matier had performed their marriage ceremony, Liadan still found it difficult to believe that such a beautiful creature was her husband. It wasn't that she believed herself to be unworthy of loving or anything so ridiculous; her grandmother and parents had loved her and there had been a couple of youths during her teenage years who she might have grown to care for, though she doubted that it would have been anywhere as deep as the love she had for the being currently using her lap as a pillow. She had never dreamed when she first tumbled into bed with Dante, son of the Dark Knight Sparda, that he would eventually fall in love with her, despite the fact that she had already been half in love with him already, even if she had been unaware of it at the time. A small smiled tugged at her lips as she gently stroked away a lock of silver white hair from falling over his face, causing him to shift closer to her slightly. There were fine lines round his eyes and the corners of his lips that hadn't been there a few months ago, lines which she suspected were in part caused by his worry for her and her state of mind after what had happened back at Arius' library. A shudder rippled through her at the memory and Dante nuzzled closer to her stomach, pressing a brief kiss there before settling again. His reaction didn't surprise her; words didn't hold as much meaning between them as they did for other people and his eyes and reactions to her had never lied, even if there were times when she could only work out what he was attempting to hide from her in hindsight.
The most obvious evidence that he didn't put as much weight to words was the way he had allowed her to act towards him back on Dumary Island. For days all she had heard were meaningless platitudes from people who hadn't really cared, even Michael had force fed her that drivel, so much so that she just stopped listening and responding. Matier had eventually dragged Dante down to the sea edge where she had taken to spending much of her time and point blank refused to allow either of them back to the village until he'd got some kind of reaction out of her other than apathy. It hadn't taken much doing on his part; all he'd had to do was stand there until she noticed him and all the pain and frustration and anger that she had smothered for so long had simply erupted. He hadn't attempted to stop her, even when she was hitting him and shrieking curses, only moving to wrap his arms round her when she finally ran out of steam and was reduced to a sobbing wreck clutching at his shoulders. That had been a turning point, though she was well aware that it would take a long time for her to come to terms with the loss of the child she had carried, especially since she had gotten more than a little attached to the idea of actually having a baby, regardless of whether Dante ever discovered that he was the father or not. Sighing, she stretched her legs out and rested a hand on his chest to feel the comforting thrum of his heartbeat before closing her eyes and allowing herself to fall into a fitful doze.
Even asleep, Dante was aware when the muscles in Liadan's thighs finally relaxed. He would much rather have helped her relieve the tension she was feeling, even if it were through nothing more than snuggling together in one corner of the carriage. However, he wasn't prepared to broadcast the depth of his and Liadan's relationship to all and sundry in the wizarding world. Ironically enough it was the fact that it was well known in the demon world that Liadan was his lover that helped protect her from the more intelligent denizens of that world; they weren't stupid enough to do something which had the potential to make him even stronger than he already was, considering the way that Trish and many other devils were convinced that it was emotional as well as physical pain that he could convert into power. It wouldn't be until she became pregnant again that she was in real danger from the more powerful devils, something that he was loathe to mention to her at this moment in time, not least because of his own feelings regarding the matter. He had promised Mundus that he would be faced with his son the next time he attempted to unseal himself, but that had been bravado in the midst of the adrenalin rush of victory and it wasn't until he saw Liadan, beaten and bloody but still swollen with child, that he realised just how much he looked forward to being a father. Unbeknownst to her, though he was sure Matier knew, he had rested a hand on her abdomen as the orderlies had carried her out of the library and had felt the last flickering ember of life within their child fade away beneath his hand. He would have done almost anything at that moment to bring that spark back and take away the sheer agony on his wife's face when she finally allowed herself to grieve. He smothered a small smirk; he'd done well with his choice of mate, despite the fact that for many years he'd been sure that he'd never have a monogamous, long-term relationship. Liadan had been a little jealous when she discovered his rather slut-like behaviour when he was younger, but she admitted that she couldn't really complain all that much when he used the tricks he had learned during those years to seduce her and drive her insane with pleasure.
"Pretty impressive, huh?" Liadan mused, a little grudgingly, as she and Dante looked up at the sprawling castle that made up Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"It's not bad." He shrugged, "It's no Mallet Island, that's for sure." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "At least it doesn't want my head on a platter." Another seemingly careless shrug as he placed his hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her towards the building. Liadan sighed mentally; she wasn't the only one who was going to have problems on this job. Dante almost never spoke about his twin brother, though she knew that he thought about him more than he would admit. Going into another castle, even if it didn't look like the one where he killed Vergil, was going to bring back memories. Liadan didn't have siblings, but she couldn't imagine that even with their later history that the twins didn't have any good memories between them, especially considering the fact that she knew from personal experience how deeply Dante could care for people. She pressed closer to him and ducked under his arm so that it was draped over her shoulder, allowing her to wrap an arm round his waist under his jacket. "Lia?"
"It's cold here." He raised a sceptical eyebrow but didn't comment, tightening his arm round her instead.
"I'll warm you up later." He promised, running his hand down over her backside momentarily, before settling on her hip. He was well aware that she hardly ever felt the cold, but he wasn't going to call her on it; it was her way of offering him comfort without drawing the attention of the others. There were very few people who even knew that he had a sibling. There was Lady, obviously, since she had been there when Vergil was trying to resurrect Temen-ni-gru. He suspected that Trish knew the true identity of Nelo Angelo, but neither of them had ever brought the subject up, something for which he was grateful. Liadan had found some pictures of Vergil and himself when she was exploring in the attic of the office and he had told her the basic story, promising to tell her more one day. Privately, he hoped that she wouldn't ask him again; he had loved his brother desperately when they were children, almost to the point of hero worship, until their mother's murder. He had never understood why his brother had changed so much and while it was true Vergil had always been quiet and a little aloof, especially compared to his gregarious younger twin, he had never been as cold and callous as he became after Eva's death. It was yet another reason Dante had allied himself against the Underworld and Mundus especially. The bastard had taken everything that mattered to him, until he'd met Trish and the others, though his relationship with Lady gave him a headache if he tried to work out what was going on there, and as for Liadan…there were times when he felt as though he had married her under false pretences, despite the fact that he loved her deeply. She had given up any hope of a 'normal' life, had given him the greatest gift that any of her kind could give another being when she bonded herself to him as his life-mate and had also carried what would have been his first child, despite the fact that she had been unable to actually give birth. From his point of view he'd brought her more physical and emotional pain than anything else, though he knew that she would dispute that, citing the fact that he shouldn't take responsibility for the whole world and that a lot of what had happened to her had been no one's fault.
He wasn't at all surprised to see that the Entrance Hall to the place was huge and overly ostentatious. Enormous oak entrance doors flanked by suits of armour and leading into a cavernous room with a marble staircase that rivalled the one in Mundus' castle on Mallet Island. Standing across from the doors were four giant hourglasses filled with what appeared to be different coloured gemstones. Torches lit the whole area though they did nothing to add warmth. All in all it was intimidating, cold and pretentious. Vergil would have liked it. Stood at the bottom of the immense marble staircase was a tall, thin old man with long silver hair and beard, which was tucked into a gold belt. His blue eyes twinkled over his half moon glasses as he gazed at the group gathered in front of him. Dante blinked at the garishness of the wizard's robes; electric blue with gold and silver stars and suns and moons that twinkled and moved round as though on their own personal orbits, with no care or concern about the other heavenly bodies sharing the material with them.
"I trust you had a pleasant journey, Mr Dante?"
"If you call being stuck in a railway carriage with a bunch of brats for hours pleasant, then sure." Once again, he ignored the indignant protests from the kids, "I take it you're Dumbledore." The tall wizard nodded, eyes twinkling even more as his gaze fell on Liadan, who flinched slightly and pressed closer to Dante.
"I am." Dumbledore returned his gaze back to the tall young man clad in crimson and black. "I was under the impression that you worked alone."
"Mostly. Sometimes I have a partner."
"I take it that the young lady with you is your partner?"
"Liadan has worked with me before." He tilted his head to one side slightly, "Not that my other business arrangements have anything to do with this job, or you." Dumbledore blinked, clearly unused to running into such a brick wall, but it was a momentary flicker and was quickly replaced by an almost patronizing amusement, ignoring the outright bristling from McGonagall and the others.
"As you say; the only thing that concerns me is the matter at hand. Minerva, would you show Mr Dante and Miss Liadan to their rooms? I'm sure you would like to settle in your rooms and freshen up before dinner?" Dante glanced at Liadan, who shrugged absently.
"Sure. Lead the way, Minnie." He smirked at the affronted expression on the Deputy Head's face.
"That's Professor McGonagall to you." She snapped, before turning and striding away, without waiting to see if they were following.
"Whatever." Dante grinned at Liadan, who shook her head indulgently before following him. There were times that he could be totally disrespectful and he couldn't care less, though she suspected that he was acting up in part to distract her from the odd sensations of being in the wizarding world. It was a strange phenomenon, the feeling of wizarding magic; it had permeated the air the moment they stepped onto Platform 9 ¾ and it gave a very uncomfortable sensation of being smothered. She had been even more unnerved by the Headmaster; in his own way he was almost as powerful as Dante, but whereas her husband wasn't interested in keeping secrets or manipulating people to his own ends, Liadan got the impression that that was exactly what this grandfatherly looking man would do. His blue eyes were intelligent, but also secretive and calculating. Perhaps he had good intentions, but people could do terrible things with what they believed were good intentions.
A low whistle dragged her out of her thoughts moments before she bounced off Dante's back when he stopped in front of her. "How about this for a room?" She glanced round briefly, noting that they were alone, then stared as her jaw dropped. Despite the instinctive aversion she had to the wizarding world, she had to admit that they did know how to show off. They stood in the midst of a generously sized sitting room; a large marble fireplace with a blazing fire was at one side of the room, large, squashy armchairs and a matching sofa in black suede, of all things. The floors were stone flags, but were covered with rich rugs and equally expensive tapestries hung on the walls as well as paintings, though luckily none of the animated portraits they had seen during their walk to the guest rooms. Liadan felt her fingers itch as she saw the huge bookshelf in a corner of the room, stuffed with books, some looking as though they were hundreds of years old. "Leave the books alone, woman." Dante rolled his eyes, "Of all the women in the world I ended up marrying a bibliophile." He groused good-naturedly.
"You didn't complain all that much when I read the Karma Sutra."
"That's because that book had some good ideas to try out." He rested Rebellion against the wall and shrugged out of his jacket. Liadan rolled her eyes,
"Only you could take a beautiful religious text and turn it into a sex manual."
"You know I don't put much faith in religion." Liadan nodded slightly; Dante had stopped believing in any kind of benevolent deity around the same time his mother was murdered and his twin disappeared. The only things he believed in now were his own powers and abilities, as well as those of Lady, Trish and herself, though that was only to a certain extent. "Besides," He grinned and stretched out onto the sofa, one knee propped up and the other leg laid straight out as he tucked his hands behind his head, "I don't recall hearing you complaining...you did moan a lot, but you didn't complain." His grin widened as Liadan blushed,
"Anyway, what d'you think of the job so far?" She wondered, pointedly ignoring his lecherous expression and flopped down onto his lap, drawing out a disgruntled huff from him as the air was driven from his lungs and his arms automatically wrapped round her to steady her.
"Not much to go on yet." He chided as she stretched out on top of him, his legs shifting slightly to allow her to slide her leg between them and tuck her head under his chin. He sighed and rested his hands on the base of her spine, fingers locked together as they lay in silence for a little while. He would never admit it to anyone else, but he needed this sometimes, a break from the fighting to just exist. To have his wife in his arms and listen to her as she breathed and feel her heart beating. If his mother gave his father anything like the peace Liadan gave him, then he finally understood why his father had turned on the Underworld. It was cliché, and definitely overused in films and books, but love was definitely something worth fighting for, whether it was familial love, romantic love or simply the love of a friend. "I don't feel the presence of any really powerful demons, and we weren't attacked the moment we stepped off the train."
"Could someone be summoning them?" She wondered, ignoring the fact that his fingers were busily unfastening her braids and combing through her slightly tangled hair.
"Perhaps." He mused, "Whoever it is doesn't know who we are." He ignored the snicker that came from her at the disgruntled tone in his voice.
"Egotist." She muttered, idly tracing nonsensical patterns on his chest with a fingertip.
"If it is someone summoning the demons, it's only going to be a matter of time before they bring over something that they can't control." He mused, ignoring her fingers as they began to slide down the zip of his black under shirt. He was more than content to simply run his fingers through her unbound hair...for the moment.
"You think it's someone at the school?"
"Or in the town itself." He agreed, "Summoning rituals only open a portal near the person using them...Lia! Your hands are fucking freezing!" He hissed, as she wriggled her fingers underneath his partially opened shirt.
"Told you I was cold." She pouted, fully unzipping his shirt and running her hand over his chest.
"Come here and I'll warm you up." He tilted her chin up and shifted his legs so that she straddled his hips and her knee was safely away from the more sensitive area of his anatomy. The next few minutes were spent in slow, leisurely kissing as she pushed his shirt further off his shoulders until he finally shrugged the whole thing off and onto the floor, where it was joined a few moments later by her crimson fishnet top. "Mm, shall we go see what the bedrooms in this place are like?" He finally asked, though he didn't give her chance to answer before pushing himself to his feet, her arms wrapping round his shoulders and legs round his waist.
Liadan was all but submerged in the ridiculously large bathtub a little while later, purring happily as she turned into a prune and Dante lounged on the sofa in the living area, critiquing the liquor cabinet he'd discovered. He hadn't bothered getting fully dressed again, being more than happy to lounge round in just his jeans and boots until Liadan dragged herself out of the bath. He sighed slightly and closed his eyes, tilting his head back against the sofa. It was a gamble, bringing her here while she was still fragile, but there was no way he could have left her on her own. She was coping quite well so far with her sudden immersion into the wizarding world; although he had felt her flinch at the power the Headmaster exuded, despite the fact that mortal magic didn't work on her, but if she had some kind of relapse the new surroundings could do more harm than good. He hated second-guessing his decisions, simply because he rarely had to make them; his lifestyle demanded split second situation assessments, with no time at all to plan out tactics or think about the consequences. Even his marriage to Liadan had, in some ways, been a one such choice; it was true that they had 'dated' for years and that Liadan had subconsciously bonded to him, but they had never spoken of any kind of formal marriage. He was pretty sure that neither of them had even considered it until he proposed on Dumary Island, though he had a feeling it would have happened eventually, considering the fact that he had already given her the ring from the set that his mother had had made.
"I have no idea how you can drink that stuff." Was the only warning he received before Liadan flopped down onto his lap, smelling wonderfully of strawberry and still warm and very slightly damp from her bath. She wasn't a big fan of a lot of alcohol, especially whisky or beer; her tastes were limited to wine, though she did have a soft spot for mead. He was lucky that she rarely got her hands on that particular brew, since it was one of the few alcoholic beverages that tended to go straight to her head which meant that she either became incredibly horny or, and this was more likely lately, incredibly morose. He had no real wish to throw himself out of a castle tower after her if she decided to attempt another swan dive. With a mental wince, he shoved that thought to the back of his mind, along with the death of his mother and both times he'd lost Vergil. He simply refused to consider loosing Liadan, whether to an enemy or to her depression. "Dante?" He opened his eyes and lifted his head from the back of the sofa to glance down at the woman sprawled across his lap, more or less half naked and still suffused with a slight hint of afterglow, despite her bath, and on her right shoulder was the love bite he had given her. The crux of her neck was highly sensitive for some reason and she thoroughly enjoyed it when he paid any attention to that area of her anatomy. It also pleased him immensely to be able to leave his mark on her.
"I was beginning to wonder whether you'd gone down the plug hole." He chided, "And there is no way I'm going to start wading through sewers again, even for you."
"Ew, Dante, that's disgusting." She paused, "When did you go through sewers?"
"Well, technically it was Leviathan's digestive tract, but I imagine sewers can't be that much different." He shrugged, "Either way, there is no way I'm going through something like that again. Took me forever to get the blood and shit out of my hair and jacket." Liadan wrinkled her nose in disgust, then frowned.
"You killed Leviathan at Temen-ni-gru, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and?"
"Well, where the hell did you find a shower in that place?" Dante grinned; that was one of the very few good memories he'd gotten from that damned place; coming to a shaky truce with Lady and getting his Devil Arms were about the only good things that had come out of that debacle.
"Would you believe that there were some amazing waterfalls in Temen-ni-gru?" He grinned at the startled expression on her face. "I'm not sure that Lady didn't get an eye-full, thinking about it." He snickered as Liadan thumped him in the shoulder, growling. "C'mon woman, you know I'm not interested in her."
"You'd better not be."
"Ooh, are you jealous?" He grinned as she blushed slightly and pouted.
"No!" She wriggled in an attempt to climb off his lap, but he tightened his arms round her, effectively trapping her there. "Dante!" His grin never faltered, even at her glare. "I am not jealous." She hissed.
"Sure you are."
"You've got such a big ego." She rolled her eyes, but relaxed. He leered at her playfully,
"That's not the only thing I've got that's big."
"Oh god, that's just corny." She spluttered as he snickered,
"Maybe, but you don't exactly object." He pointed out, before lowering his head to kiss her, one hand moving down from her hip, fingers sliding underneath the top of her jeans. It always amazed Liadan how sexually greedy he could be, especially if he'd just got back from a fight; there had even been nights when she'd fallen asleep with him still making love to her, though those instances were thankfully few and far between considering how bruised she usually was the next day. However, there were times when she was simply too sore in certain areas to even consider having him inside her, and this was one of those occasions. "Lia?" Dante pulled back slightly when she tugged his hand away from her jeans and laced their fingers. "What's wrong?" It was rare that she denied him access to her body.
"Nothing, just a little sore." She quirked a small smile. "You have to admit that we've been going at it like rabbits since we got married." A happy, lascivious grin crossed his face at that comment.
"It's not my fault you're so fucking sexy when you come." He shrugged, grinning at the blush that highlighted her cheeks.
"Dante!" Despite the fact that they were alone in the room, she buried her face in his neck in embarrassed pleasure at the complement.
"What? It's true." He nuzzled her face out from where it was hidden and kissed her again. "How about we just make out for a little while?" To be honest, he enjoyed 'snuggling' with her just as much as he did making love to her, though he'd never admit that in public, especially not using that particular name for it. He could quite happily lay on a sofa with her for hours, just stroking and cuddling, occasionally indulging in languorous bouts of deep, gentle kissing.
"M'm, I can cope with that." She agreed, unlacing their fingers and sliding her hand up his arm to tangle her fingers in the hair at the back of his neck. If he had gained anything from his time as one of the Love Planet's most popular clients, it was an understanding of how to satisfy a woman. Of course, the girls at the Love Planet now knew better than to try and get him to continue with that kind of 'training', aside from the fact that the story of what happened to one girl when he forgot himself was still remembered, they were well aware that it wasn't good for their health to get on the wrong side of his wife. Dante himself was just as bad when it came to other males attempting to seduce his woman, although the regulars seemed to take a strange kind of pleasure in not informing any newcomers who expressed an interest in Liadan of the fact that her husband was particularly possessive.
Dante knew that a lot of people would find it strange, considering how physical his relationship with his wife was, that his favourite part of her were her eyes. Over their years together, he had learned the different colour changes that signalled her emotions; the cold steel of her fighting mood, the dark cloudiness of her sorrow and, his favourite one; that of the glittering, molten silver that was only ever directed towards him, though he didn't often get chance to indulge in studying it in any great detail. Despite the fact that they were now co-habiting, they didn't get to spend a great amount of time alone; if Patty and Morrison weren't hanging round the office, then Lady certainly was and sometimes all three were there at the same time and their presences weren't exactly the kind of distraction he needed when he wanted to simply cuddle up on one of the sofas with his wife. Patty would almost go into convulsions at how 'cute' they were and he suspected that she had somehow managed to get a photograph of one of the few times she'd actually walked into the office to see them curled up together. Morrison would ignore them and Lady would simply looked disturbed. He was slightly insulted by that, especially since she had pointedly turned down any advances he had made towards her before he met Liadan. In hindsight, he was quite relieved that she had refused him; as far as he was concerned they were better off as friendly rivals and business partners. She didn't understand his instinctual need to display his 'ownership' of his mate, usually with the love bites prominently displayed on Liadan's throat, and he was well aware that she was more than a little repulsed by the way he got turned on during the more life-threatening battles. He was quite certain that if Liadan had been in the castle on Mallet Island with him after one of his battles with Phantom or any of the others of his ilk, he would have had no qualms about dragging her up to the only decent bedroom he'd found and fucking her through the mattress of the large double bed, regardless of any other demons that might have been lying in wait. Thinking about it, it was a good thing she hadn't been there, otherwise they'd probably still be there now. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"M'm, nothing much." He shifted them round so that he could stretch his legs out on the sofa. "Just thinking how lucky I am to have you as my wife." Liadan smiled,
"And to think that Morrison believes that you don't know how to treat a woman well." She shook her head in mock sympathy for his agent's point of view. Dante smirked,
"There's only one woman I choose to treat well."
"Oh? Who might that be?" She wondered, not quite pulling off an innocent expression as he allowed her to slide a leg between his knees as he ran his fingers through her hair. Neither took any notice of the soft knocking on the door of their temporary quarters. He sighed heavily, leaning in to nuzzle at her neck as he spoke, the hand that wasn't holding her flush against him smoothed along the length of her body to mid thigh and back up again.
"Damn it, Lia, you know I'm no good with stuff like this." He groused, "You know how I feel about you." Liadan hummed in agreement, cradling the back of his head in her hand as he kissed and nipped at her neck.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. She knew he wasn't good at expression his emotions verbally; he'd learned early on in his career as a mercenary that even if you did feel them, to express such emotions was a sign of weakness and could be used against you. Besides, he did tell her how he felt about her, it just wasn't verbal. It was little things, like calling her 'woman' rather than the conventional term of 'babe', the expression in his eyes when he looked at her and the most telling, at least according to Lady and Trish, was the fact that he allowed her to touch his weapons. Before she arrived no one, not even Patty was allowed to touch Ebony and Ivory, never mind his devil arms. The only weapons he didn't like her handling were Nevan and Beowulf, mostly because Liadan wasn't completely comfortable around Nevan, what with her being a succubus and Beowulf...well, it may be bound by demon law to obey Dante as its master, but it wasn't exactly quiet about the fact that it hated Sparda and anything linked to the demon knight, especially Dante and Vergil after one brother blinded him and the other finally killing him. There was no way Dante was going to risk his wife even touching the greaves and gauntlets that held Beowulf's soul and to be honest, Liadan didn't like the way the armour itself thrummed with simmering fury at its current fate. She hissed abruptly as Dante bit down on her throat, intending on creating a matching mark as the one he'd given her earlier.
"You're my woman." He murmured, running his tongue over the mark he left on her skin as she purred, tightening her arms round his shoulders. "That's all that matters."
"Mr Dante! Miss Liadan!" They were unable to ignore either the loud, imperious knocking or the girlish voice calling through the wood of the door this time. Liadan's head fell back with an annoyed sigh and Dante growled against her neck in frustration before he pushed himself to his feet and stalked over to the door.
"Yeah, what d'you want?!" He snapped, yanking the door open to see two kids waiting outside. One of them was one of the two youths who had been with McGonagall at the office, and who he assumed to be the Potter kid, while the other was a pretty brunette.
"Professor McGonagall sent us to take you to the Great Hall." The boy told them, casting an annoyed glance towards the girl who stood next to him as her jaw dropped and she stared unabashedly at Dante.
"Huh. Come in then." He turned and walked back into the room, a little unnerved by the girl's blatant adulation. It wasn't as though he didn't like being ogled by pretty women, but the emphasis there was on the word 'women'. Being stared at like that by young teenage girls made his skin crawl. "Get up, woman. Looks like we've been summoned for dinner." He grabbed the hand that Liadan waved in his direction and pulled her to her feet as he looked round for his undershirt and waistcoat. "You might want to tidy your hair up first, though." He added, handing her both her hair elastics and the unusual wide mesh sweater she favoured. He didn't quite understand why she liked to have the sleeves ending in fingerless gloves, but he wasn't going to argue when the top itself showed off the pretty bras she liked to wear. At the moment it was a black satin confection that glittered slightly in the candlelight and had a little red bow set between the cups and on the edges of the straps. Cute little lingerie sets were one of her few girly vices, and probably the only one that he could tolerate, as long as he didn't have to go shopping for them with her. Even the thought of going on a shopping trip with Liadan and Trish was enough to send chills up his spine. "Looks like some freaky ass bird's made a nest up there." He added, pulling on his undershirt and waistcoat, ignoring the glare she sent his way.
"And who's the 'freaky ass bird' who did it to me?" She shook her head as he simply grinned innocently at her. She rolled her eyes and untangled her hair as well as she could, fingers braiding her hair without conscious thought as she glanced round the room.
"Where're Laisrián and Muirinn?"
"Put them with Rebellion." Dante indicated the corner of the room with his head as he buckled his waistcoat, both of them ignoring the kids stood in the doorway. He watched from under his eyelids as she reverently picked her blades up, still in their scabbards with their thigh straps and buckles that fastened them to the belt of her jeans. She loved those daggers; they were the only things she had left of her family after all and had trained with them since she before she was ten years old. He wasn't sure when she made her first kill, but he knew it was well before she killed the hunter that had attacked her and driven her onto the wandering road that led her to him. "Shall we give you three some time alone?" He wondered, a little jealous at the attention she was lavishing on them rather than himself.
"Ha, says the man who all but orgasms when he greases his guns." She retorted, strapping her daggers to her thighs as Dante laughed and got to his feet, making his way round the back of the sofa where she was seated.
"You're just jealous because it isn't you that I'm greasing." He leaned over the sofa to purr suggestively in her ear, though it was clearly loud enough for the kids by the door to hear, considering the way the girl blushed. Liadan snickered and leaned back on the sofa, tilting her head to receive his kiss, lacing her fingers through his hair to hold his head there.
"You're incorrigible." She murmured against his lips as he grinned. "Are you taking Rebellion as well?" She wondered, as he turned to the huge Zweihänder leaning against the wall next to a small chair on which his red duster was flung. Ebony and Ivory were already nestled in their usual place at the small of his back.
"Of course." Liadan nodded. She wouldn't expect anything less; they knew very little of their new surroundings and they were both aware that was a bad idea to go anywhere unknown when you were unarmed and she understood the comfort that a blade lent. Personal preference stopped her from using firearms, despite Dante's declaration that his babies had saved his ass more than once when he'd not been able to get to Rebellion or his other weapons. She knew that he wanted to teach her how to use a gun, perhaps because he couldn't teach her anything new with her daggers, but how did she explain to him that the guns he cherished just as much as she did her daggers scared the life out of her? He was a crack shot; had trained for years to be that way and never missed. He could sight a gun without thought and get bull's-eye in the blink of an eye and he'd never even clipped an innocent bystander, but not everyone who wielded a gun had either his skill or the dedication to training that he'd had. Too many people had been injured or killed by idiots playing with guns and not knowing how to use them properly or not caring enough to do so, which was worse. She didn't want to be one of those people; she was terrified of letting him down, of not being as good as he wanted her to be. "Stop daydreaming, woman and come on."
Compared to the entrance hall the Great Hall wasn't too bad; it still had the Gothic appearance, though there was plenty of warm candle and torchlight. The ceiling was pretty cool too, be-spelled as it was to mimic the sky outside. Despite that novelty, he was soon bored with the amount of time the meal was taking, even with the wave of interest that had been directed their way when the Headmaster announced them as being private investigators hired to look into the sightings that had been occurring. He didn't like hanging round playing nice with people he didn't know and didn't want to know and he wasn't good at it, especially when he was on a job. Of course, it didn't help that Liadan had been quiet and pensive since they entered the Great Hall. Perhaps it was recalling just where they were, or maybe the crowd and the noise or the tiny first year children tugging at her still healing emotions. Whatever it was, he didn't like it; it was too similar to the brooding that led to her depressive moods. It also meant that she didn't eat properly. Trish was always on at him to eat more than just pizza and had harped on at him about the virtues of sensible eating plenty of times, like his metabolism really needed him to eat healthily. Still, when it came to Liadan he found that it did matter; she was an ample woman, with full hips and breasts and wonderful little belly, especially since her pregnancy, and he had decided years ago that he preferred her softness rather than the hard slenderness that was the popular epitome of femininity. However, she had lost weight recently and while no one else noticed it, he did and he knew that when she was upset or brooding she didn't eat. With an audible huff, he leaned back and propped his ankles on the corner of the table, being careful not to knock Rebellion over, before tucking his arms behind his head and closing his eyes to settle down for a nap until this interminable dinner was over with.
They both felt the presence of demonic items before they entered the Headmaster's office, and the sight of the precious, luridly glowing stones brought a grin of sheer glee to Dante's face. "Sweet." He purred, running a finger reverently over the screaming face depicted on one of the green stones. "We've been getting low on these babies." He added, glancing over at Liadan, who frowned,
"I thought you were going to be careful with them; it's not as though we've got a Divinity Statue in the office. We've got plenty of vital stars, haven't we?" Dante snorted,
"Yeah, but they haven't got the kick that these puppies have, you know that." Liadan shuddered; she knew exactly what kind of 'kick' the green orbs had and it was same reason that Dante usually refused to use them on her, making her use the vital stars he collected instead.
"And what, exactly, are these things?" Liadan and Dante jumped at the sound of the Deputy Headmistresses voice. "They didn't glow before you came into the room." She added, a little suspiciously. Dante shrugged carelessly and removed Rebellion from his back, propping it up against the wall near the chairs that he and Liadan seated themselves in.
"Of course they didn't." He retorted as he waved a hand before watching as the orbs flew into the space behind him, disappearing into whatever ether his devil arms would appear from whenever he needed them.
"What are they? And why didn't they react until you came in?" A girl's voice questioned them this time, drawing their attention the bushy haired teenage girl seated between the two kids who had been at the office with McGonagall.
"I call 'em orbs. They're made out of the crystallised blood and fluids of demons. That's all you need to know." He added, when she opened her mouth to question him further.
"Their presence here does mean that you've definitely got some demons round here." Liadan stretched her legs out and absently adjusted the bracers on her forearms. They were still relatively new; a wedding present from Dante, and she still got a kick out of the design he'd had carved into the black leather. Rebellion flanked by Laisrián and Muirinn, their blades crossing that the end and their names etched on their blades in Gaelic and the outlines highlighted in red. "They only appear when a demon dies." She added, "Which means they've been killing each other. Nothing really unusual in that; orbs are a kind of currency in the Underworld and demons are instinctive fighters anyway. What strikes me as odd is that fact that there's so many innocent souls and virgin bodies here in the castle and they haven't made a move to have...fun with any of them."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The redhead, Ron Weasley, Dante recalled from the inane conversations he'd been forced to overhear on the train journey to Hogwarts, blurted out, edging closer to the bushy haired girl, who had paled.
"Demons might not have 'human' emotions, but they do possess an incredible amount of lust." Dante shrugged, "Under normal circumstances any self respecting demon, even the foot soldiers, wouldn't dream of not playing with young, innocent kids." It was almost amusing to see the faces of the teachers and kids paling in unison. Almost. Both Liadan and Dante had seen the evidence of a full blood demon's idea of 'playtime' and it wasn't a pretty sight. No matter what they thought of the wizarding world, neither of them would wish that on anyone.
"How do we stop them?" Dumbledore finally spoke, hands steepled in front of him as he rested his elbows on the table.
"You don't. You lot get involved with them you'll just end up dead."
"You're saying that you two are the only ones able to deal with these...demons?" The silky voice of the dark haired professor seated in the corner of the room, in as much of the shadows as possible, entered the discussion. Dante snorted, ignoring the clear disbelieving tone.
"Dumbledore already knows that. It's the reason you hired us, right?" The white haired wizard sighed and nodded,
"That is correct." He admitted, ignoring the indrawn breaths of his colleagues. "The existence of the demon world is not widely known in our world. I believe that no more than two or three members of the Wizengamot have any idea that it exists, and even the Unspeakables know very little about it." Dante snorted derisively, but said nothing. "I don't doubt, however, that Voldemort has been investigating the possibility of something from that world aiding him in his quest for immortality."
"There ain't anything that he could use. I'd know about it." He did interrupt this time. "Besides, demon magic won't work for you lot."
"Summoning rituals could give him a degree of control over some demons." Liadan commented, "But it wouldn't be all that long before they turned on him." She blinked and turned to him, "What about Abigail?" Dante shook his head,
"Nah. That power dissipated once I killed Sid." He assured her, "Trish and Lady did some major research with Patty's mother; there's no record of Lowell or his cronies sealing any other demon away." For a moment the couple locked gazes; even if the sheer destruction that Sid had wreaked when he finally managed to harness Abigail's power hadn't alerted her, Liadan had known that something had happened to Dante. She didn't know any details until Patty let it slip that for all intents and purposes he had been dead for a good while. If she hadn't still been so raw after the loss of her baby, she was pretty sure she'd have let him off with a slap or two during training, but at the time she'd nearly fallen into hysterics and frightened the life out of both Patty and Dante. It had taken ages for him to calm her down, to get her to think straight and realise that he had never been beaten; he'd taken down both the emperor and a king of hell, so no matter how tough wannabes like Sid thought they were, they had no chance against him. Neither of them ever considered the unwritten rule that there was always someone stronger, somewhere, or that it took just one mistake, one careless judgement and it wouldn't matter how strong he was.
"Why won't demon magic work for Voldemort?" The shaggy haired kid wondered, a frown on his face. Dante shrugged,
"Dunno. I don't think too much about the mechanics of it, I just know you've gotta have demon blood to make demon magic work."
"Are those orbs demon magic too?" The bushy haired kid was way too sharp for her own good, but neither hunter flinched at the question. While Dante didn't go advertising his heritage, he didn't deny it either.
"I assume that you've got statements from the witnesses?" He glanced towards Dumbledore instead, who nodded, indicating a stack of parchment on his desk. Liadan leaned forwards and pulled the pile towards her. "You can look over those once we've gone round the castle and grounds." He hid a grin at the annoyed glare she turned his way, instead raising an eyebrow and returned the look until she sighed and released her hold on the stack. She knew better than to question him when they hunted together; he was the most experienced and the most powerful, both of which put him at the top of the pecking order, at least in these kind of situations. Liadan could always get control away from him in certain other circumstances, which suited them both. "Good girl." He pushed himself to his feet and picked up Rebellion, hefting it to his back in one smooth motion. "Isn't anyone going to give us the grand tour?" He wondered, grinning as Liadan rolled her eyes and also got to her feet.
"Surely there's more we need to discuss?" McGonagall glanced at the Headmaster. "We need to be made aware of what you're going to do to track down these demons." Now that the Headmaster had admitted the existence of such creatures, she was more willing to believe that they existed, though she would prefer to see them for herself. Dante snorted,
"Now I'm here those bastards will head straight for me whenever they show up. You just need to stay out of our way."
"How very modest of you." Dante's grin widened at the dry comment coming from the dark haired man in the shadows.
"Hey, just telling it like it is." He retorted, "They just love my pretty face."
"They love trying to ruin your pretty face, you mean." Liadan smirked at the playful glare her husband turned on her. She then glanced towards Dumbledore. "Headmaster? The tour? Before his head inflates to the point where we can't leave the room." She ignored the playful snarl that came from behind her, though it clearly startled everyone else in the room. "Down, boy." She forced herself to not flinch when she felt his lips next to her ear.
"You're going to get such a spanking later on, woman." He growled softly.
"Promises, promises." She muttered. Somehow, during their little discussion, it had been decided that the three teenagers were going to give them the grand tour, causing both Dante and Liadan to glance at the Headmaster suspiciously. Neither of them wanted to get dragged into this little civil war; they had more than enough to deal with without getting involved in anything like that, especially since most people in this world would turn on them both if it came out that they were half-breeds, especially since Liadan at least would be classed as a so-called 'dark' creature. "You seem to have picked up quite a few admirers." She murmured, a little while later, as they trailed a little way behind the kids, letting the almost non-stop chatter from bushy haired girl wash over them. They weren't interested in knowing every little detail about how the bloody school had been built, or the history of the wizarding world; all that mattered was whether Dante picked up on any residual demonic energy. Even so, they couldn't help but notice the kids following at a distance, or the looks and whispers that followed them.
"You expected anything less?" He quipped, grinning when she rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.
"Unfortunately, no." It was something she was used to by now; the effect Dante had on the majority of the women, and the occasional man, that he met. She didn't necessarily like it but since there was little she could do to stop them she learned to tolerate the lecherous glances and jealous comments. After all, she was the one wearing his wedding ring and the one, she hoped, who would bear his children some day. "I wonder if she's planning on giving us a written test at the end of this?" She wondered, as the girl, introduced to them as Hermione, continued with her lecture on the origins of the school.
"I wonder if she actually needs to breathe." Liadan stifled a giggle as he draped an arm round her shoulders and muttered into her hair.
"Be nice." She rested a hand briefly on his chest. "I'm just as bad when it comes to books." Dante snorted,
"Even at your worst, you don't prattle on like some kind of possessed parrot." That comment caused her to stare up at him,
"Possessed parrot?" Dante shrugged,
"Good one-liners aren't all that easy to think up on the spot." He huffed slightly as Liadan slugged him on the front of his shoulder.
"You don't need the one-liners with me, amadán."
"Ooh, I love it when you insult me like that." When he discovered that she had a little knowledge of a different language he had begged her to teach him as many words as she could remember, both the insults and endearments, though the insults were the ones he used most.
"Trying to work here, Dante." She chided, though her words were belied when she slid her arm round his waist, fingers sliding into his back pocket with a brief, playful squeeze. The action brought very pleasant memories to the forefront of his mind, as well as causing him to idly wonder when this honeymoon period would calm down and enable them to go more than a day without feeling the urge to ravish each other. He couldn't recall them being this bad during the years that they were 'fuck buddies', which led him to question just why they needed to touch each other so often now they were married. Perhaps it was instinctive, a need to strengthen the bond between them that wouldn't have existed had it still been nothing more than a sexual relationship. It could also simply be that he was bored and sex was a pleasant way to pass the time if there wasn't anything to fight.
"There's no work here." He grumbled petulantly. "There isn't a single demon in this castle." Liadan stopped, the fingers latched into his pocket dragging him to a halt also.
"You're bored?" She grinned when he looked back at her and pouted.
"We've been walking round this bloody castle for hours, with no sign of anything to play with, of course I'm bored."
"Are you sure you don't have ADD?"
"There are plenty of things that can hold my interest." He smirked, gaze raking her body in a way that made clear just what he was insinuating. "It's not my fault that castle tours don't happen to be one of them." Liadan blushed slightly, much to his obvious delight, though it was probably because they had an audience that didn't include Trish and the others, who were used to ignoring such conversations. "Besides, I'm hungry and you owe me a strawberry sundae." Liadan blinked, glancing at her watch, and was surprised to realise that it was nearly nine o'clock and that they were once again in the entrance hall. They'd been wandering round the castle for a good three hours, if not more, so it really wasn't all that surprising that Dante was bored. As much as she loved the man, she knew that his attention span wasn't amazingly long, and it lessened considerably when he wasn't even interested in what was happening in the first place. It made sense for them to know their way round the castle if they were going to be staying here until they worked out who was summoning the demons and how they were doing it, never mind stopping it, but she should have realised that there was only so long it would hold his interest.
"When did you decide that I owe you a sundae?" She wondered, ignoring the look of confusion on the kids. "I stopped playing poker with you months ago." She was probably the only one he could win against in that game, and that was only because she had no talent whatsoever for card games and he was still teaching her pool, though she was purposely taking her time learning that game, simply due to the way he taught her. Really, how was she supposed to concentrate if he insisted on pressing up behind her when he was showing her how to hold the cue properly? She suspected Lady would never play pool on that table again if she ever found out what other activities had taken place on it. She shook her head; as pleasant as that recollection was, it didn't help her remember when this debt of a sundae had appeared.
"Your memory's getting worse, woman." He huffed, stalking forwards and backing her into the wall, his forearm resting on the wall at the side of her head as he leaned in towards her with a predatory grin on his face. Neither of them acknowledged the existence of the teenagers nearby, or that the size of the group was increasing now that they had stopped moving. "Back at the Love Planet you promised me a special strawberry sundae." He reminded her, idly running a finger down the strap of her bra. "And I intend to keep you to that promise." His voice had dropped a couple of octaves; as well as taking up the purr that indicated which particular activities he was interested in pursuing.
"And just what do I get out of it?" She wondered, tilting her head slightly towards his and licking her lips. Sometimes the anticipation was more fun than the actual act itself.
"M'm..." He nuzzled her hair briefly, warm breath sending a shiver through her. "How about some playtime in that big bathtub you've found?" The images that conjured almost had her swallowing her own tongue, and caused a frustratingly smug grin to appear on his face. Two could play at that game, she mused, reaching out to toy with the straps of his waistcoat,
"I don't know." She smirked as his eyes widened slightly in surprise at her reticence, however playful it was. "I mean, I've got those witness statements to look at..." Whatever else she intended to say was drowned out by high-pitched, inhuman laughter coming from the other side of the huge front doors, closely followed by all too human screams.
"What's that?" Hermione's voice was no more than a strangled whisper,
"Nobodies." Both Dante and Liadan headed towards the doors.
"Don't you mean 'Nobody'?" The girl could seemingly overcome her fear enough to correct people's speech.
"I know what I mean." Dante snapped, "Pedantic little bitch." He added, under his breath as he flung the doors back. Liadan winced slightly as shrieks came from behind them as well as from the grounds, but she couldn't really blame them; Nobodies really were hideous creatures and while they weren't particularly intelligent they were tough bastards and tended to gather in groups as well as taking an almost childlike delight in inflicting as much pain on their victims as possible. "Woman, get those kids back in the castle. You lot stay put." He glared at the various groups of teenagers huddled together in the entrance hall before turning and sauntering out.
While Dante distracted the Nobodies in his own inimitable way, which simply meant whistling in their direction in order to have them bound towards him, the demonic energy coming from him an intoxicating enticement to the creatures, Liadan dashed over to the huddled group of young girls they had been terrorising.
"Are any of you hurt?" She wondered, crouching down in front of them, while keeping a weather eye on Dante's fight. The Nobodies had been joined by a group of Marionettes, which sent a wave of concern through her. The sheer amount of demons coming through were more than what she would have expected from a normal human's summoning powers, especially in the wizarding world, where the existence of demons was even less well known than in the so-called Muggle world. Dante was in his element of course, and providing more than enough of a distraction for her to get the kids out of the way.
"We're okay, Miss." One of the braver girls spoke up. Liadan nodded, dragging her attention away from her husband's antics.
"Good. Now, you're going to have to be brave a little longer, okay?" Hesitantly, the pale, tear stained faces nodded. They were clearly going into shock, which meant she couldn't wait too long before getting them back into the relative safety of the school. "I want you to all hold hands and not let go." She waited a few moments for them to follow her instructions. "Now, you're going to run to the entrance hall as fast as you can, okay? Don't look back, whatever happens. Just get to the doors; you'll be safe then." She took hold of the hand of the girl who had spoken and pushed herself up slightly, like a sprinter on the starting blocks, pleased when the children followed her lead. "Ready?" Another set of nods. "Now, run!" She had to quash her natural instincts to go her top speed, which would end up with her literally dragging the crocodile line of kids behind her, as well as keeping an eye on the Marionettes and Nobodies, though they were still engrossed in trying to cut Dante down to size.
"Miss Liadan!" Just as she was herding the kids into the entrance hall, one of them glanced back and saw yet another child stumble out of the forest, with a Marionette hot on it's heels.
"Fuck it. I knew this was too easy." She growled, "Get in, quickly." She growled at the children who had frozen next to her in horror, watching as their compatriot scrambled backwards across the grass in a futile attempt to get away from the grotesque wooden toy as it stalked her.
"But, what about Vicky?"
"I'll get her. Now, move!" Liadan didn't bother waiting to see if they complied with her order, instead taking off back in the direction they had just come from, determined to get to the child before the Marionette did. She snarled, as the child suddenly froze, watching with wide eyes as the wooden puppet clumsily raised its dagger above its head, preparing for what would undoubtedly be a deathblow. Putting on a burst of speed, she launched herself towards the Marionette, ramming her shoulder into its chest and causing it to stumble back a few feet. "Damnit kid, move!" Grabbing the girl by the front of her robes, Liadan dragged her to her feet and shoved her in the direction of castle.
The clank of wooden joints caused her to whirl round in time to catch the Marionette as it dove towards her, slamming them both into the iron hard ground and driving the air from her lungs. White hot agony lanced through her shoulder as its dagger was turned on her, biting greedily through flesh and bone before lodging itself in the earth beneath her. Reflexively, she kicked out with her feet, launching the puppet high into the air. Scrabbling to her feet, she gritted her teeth and cradled her now useless arm against her chest, pulling Laisrián from his scabbard. Marionettes weren't difficult to destroy; cut their strings or smash their joints and they were done for, but they were quick and didn't feel pain.
Dante's wild laughter cut through the otherwise still night, bringing a matching grin onto her lips. The mindless automaton rocked slightly before floating towards her, its torso spinning like a top, whipping its arms round. She felt wooden fingers just brush the top of her hair as she ducked beneath the flailing limbs. Spinning on her heel, she used the momentum to decapitate the doll, sending its head clear across the grounds of the castle. Instinctively, she raised her hand to shield her face as the creature simply imploded, showering the nearby area with huge splinters of wood, which melted away a few seconds later as the energy keeping it together escaped.
Liadan growled through her teeth, eyes dilated in a mixture of pain and exhilaration. Over the pounding her heartbeat, she could still hear Dante gleefully taunting his opponents, Ebony and Ivory's machine gun-like fire and the sickening acidic stink of the Nobodies as they exploded under her husband's tender mercies. She desperately wanted to go to Dante's side, to indulge in the thrill that only a life and death fight alongside him could ignite, but she had to prevent any stray demons from trying to get into the castle. With a longing glance at the knot of Marionettes and Nobodies surrounding the vivid red coat and silver hair of her husband, she turned towards the doors of the castle in time to see one of the Nobodies dancing its way towards the easier prey of terrified children.
Luckily for her, it was one of the smaller of the varieties of Nobody, though that wasn't saying much when even the ones of that size were as tall as Dante. Unfortunately, it noticed her before she came into striking range and launched itself into one of the impressive kicks that typified the species. Pain rocketed through her shoulder as she ducked and rolled to one side, cursing the fact that her left arm was all but useless, cradled against her chest as it was. She could no more wield Muirinn at the moment than she could fly and that put her at a serious disadvantage, which meant she had to get this over with quickly. "Laisrián, las." The long dagger burst into flames at her command, startling the Nobody and driving it back momentarily. The respite wasn't long and Liadan found herself ducking and weaving the creature's kicks and punches as she herself darted in and out, slashing at it's body and limbs. Laisrián's flames cauterised the wounds she inflicted, thereby lessening the chances of her getting splashed with the creature's acidic blood.
It wasn't enough; her injury prevented her from killing it before it was able to bring its mask into play, dancing and laughing madly as its body swelled to double its original size. She stumbled away, blood loss making her uncoordinated and clumsy. The Nobody was on her in less than a second, its newly formed third hand seizing her and pinning her arms to her sides.
A chorus of screams echoed in Liadan's ears as she was hoisted in the air, the Nobody preparing for its most damaging move; the Grab 'n' Smash, as Dante called it. Not very elegant, but then being slammed into the ground multiple times wasn't supposed to be graceful. The screams reached a crescendo with the first landing, as did the pain that blossomed along her back and shoulders. Her ribs creaked and groaned under the assault and she was sure she blacked out momentarily, though it was difficult to know, what with the stars in her vision and the cackling in her ears. Everything hurt; her back, her ribs…hell, at this point she was sure that even her hair was aching in sympathy. Pushing herself onto the elbow of her injured arm, gritting her teeth against the wave of heat the billowed from the dagger in her shoulder as she shoved herself up onto her knees, she tightened her hold on Laisrián's hilt. She had one chance at this, while the bastard was dancing round.
Dante may have been unparalleled when it came to wielding a wide variety of weaponry, but Liadan had been using her daggers since she was a child; throwing the weapons accurately had been something she knew how to do before she hit her teenage years. As a result her aim was true, despite her loss of blood and badly cracked ribs. Laisrián's blade landed squarely in the forehead of the mask before exploding into a ball of flame, the stench of burning flesh and splatters of caustic blood prompting her to scramble back out of range. Moments later, the dagger flew back to its mistress, its magical blade untainted by gore or damaged by the acidic blood.
Dante was unaware of anything other than his enemies. He had entrusted the rescue of the kids to Liadan and since she had managed more difficult tasks before he was unconcerned. His wife was more than capable of defending herself and a few brats against Marionettes and Nobodies. Besides, he was enjoying himself as he worked out the frustration that had built up after three hours of enforced boredom as he was dragged round the castle, listening to someone droning on about dead witches and wizards and how the place was constructed. There was also the fact that his half demon mind combined the sensations of battle and pleasure and he revelled in the opportunity to indulge in both following the last few weeks where there was very little fighting aside from his sparring sessions with Liadan which, while exciting in their own way, didn't have the thrill of life or death combat. At times like this it was nigh on impossible to draw his attention to anything but the fight. Hell, even Liadan had difficulty getting his attention when he was absorbed this deeply, and he loved her almost as much as he cherished his mother.
Ifrit sizzled and sparked as he drove the skull of one of the Nobodies into the ground before dancing away to avoid being splashed by the acidic toxins that exploded from the rapidly dissolving corpse. With a mere thought, the flaming gauntlets vanished from his hands to be replaced with Rebellion. The tip of the huge Zweihänder rammed into the torso of a Marionette with a satisfying thunk. Dante grinned wolfishly and swung both blade and hapless puppet as an improvised bludgeon, arching backwards to slam another into the ground behind him, then back over his head to do the same to another that had replaced the one currently impaled on Rebellion. The blade glinted in the moonlight as he swung it round his body, toppling the circle of Marionettes that had surrounded him like so many bowling pins, the ending sweep of the movement reminiscent of a baseball swing that finally shot its rapidly disintegrating passenger off the tip of the blade and deep into the forest. Dante grinned and nodded to himself, pleased with the distance he'd achieved, before turning his attention to the remaining Nobodies. They weren't all that difficult opponents for him, though they were a little tricky in groups, but really it was child's play to cut them down with Rebellion. The only problem was avoiding the splatter of their caustic blood as they exploded in their death throes, since such corrosives were one of the few things he found difficult to defend himself against.
The fight itself took little more than ten minutes, not enough to satisfy him thoroughly, but enough to ignite his libido and make his wife the first thing he looked for as the scattered remains of Marionettes and Nobodies melted away into nothing. He wasn't initially concerned when she didn't automatically appear; after all, he had told her to keep the kids back inside the castle until he'd finished, but the pool of blood nearby and the trail that led towards the doors of the castle told a different story. The foreboding feeling in his chest became heavier as he dipped a finger in congealing liquid, the aroma painfully familiar. He knew from experience that the blood that came from women during their periods smelled different to the blood that ran in their veins on a day-to-day basis. He used that experience shamelessly in order to anticipate Liadan's moods, but this blood wasn't menstrual and he had no doubt that it was Liadan's. He'd not smelt it since Dumary Island, but there was no way he could forget that odour.
Enzo Ferino had once said that nothing could surprise Dante, but that wasn't strictly true; he could be surprised, but had long since trained himself not to react to such things. Of course, if person knew him as well as Lady or Trish, then perhaps they might notice the slight tightening of his jaw or the flicker of his eyes. However, there was no one gathered in the entrance hall that knew the demon hunter well enough to even begin contemplating what was going through his mind as he pushed himself to his feet and stalked back into the castle. He didn't fail to notice how most of the student body that had witnessed the fighting nervously backed away from him. Liadan was not amongst them, and considering the fact that she had apparently lost a lot of blood, he could only surmise that she had been taken to the hospital wing. That fact alone was worrying, considering what her last experience in such a place had entailed. With that thought in mind, he turned and headed up towards the hospital wing, which they had passed during the tour a little while earlier.
"I don't care if you're Florence fucking Nightingale reincarnated, you aren't touching me!" It wasn't so much the fact that Liadan was snarling that prompted him to hurry towards the infirmary doors; it was the underlying tone of breathless panic that was in her voice that called to him. It was one of the very few things that he was helpless to do anything but respond to. That didn't stop him from smirking in pleasure at the obvious flinches that came from the people gathered in the infirmary as he slammed into the room; sheer skill being the only thing that stopped the doors from rebounding into his face. That emotion died the moment he saw the tableau that his entrance had caused to freeze in place. Liadan was backed in a corner, her deathly pale face pinched with pain and teeth bared in fear. A Marionette's dagger was lodged in shoulder, the hilt sticking grotesquely from her front and the point glinting at the back, her arm made more or less useless by what had be a shattered shoulder blade. Blood ran down her side, though she had been smart enough not to attempt to pull the blade free, or she would have bled out even before his fight with the demons was over. Her torso was one huge bruise in the vague shape of a giant hand and that combined with the harshness of her breathing suggested, at the very least, cracked ribs. The fact that she made it up to the infirmary and was still conscious and standing was a miracle and a testament to her were-beast heritage. "Fear céile..." He was by her side in a few strides, carelessly shouldering aside the women confronting Liadan and wrapping his arms carefully round her waist as her knees finally gave way. Even so, she winced and hissed through her teeth at the jarring of her ribs, though it was the fact that she had called him 'Husband' rather than his given name was testament to how relieved she was to see him.
"I've got you." He murmured, guiding them over to one of the beds.
"Finally." The woman who was clearly the nurse huffed and began to pull her wand out. "Perhaps now I can do my job without any more silly antics."
"You will stay where you are." Dante snapped, sitting on the bed and drawing Liadan down to straddle his lap, her face burrowing into the crux of his neck. Her skin was cold and clammy, her panting breath almost too hot and her pulse racing as she tried to control the pain that she was in.
"Excuse me?" The nurse all but gaped. "That woman is in need of serious medical attention..."
"I had noticed that." He agreed. "But you are not going to give it to her." Ignoring her spluttering, he turned his attention to Liadan. "Lia? You still with me, Bean chéile?" He felt her shudder and swallow heavily,
"I'm here."
"Good girl." He stroked her hair, "I'm going to have to use a green orb on you, baby. A vital star would take too long, and you've lost too much blood for it to work in time." She nodded against him. "I need to take the dagger out too."
"Do it." Dante nodded, then glared at the nurse and the Deputy Headmistress.
"You think we can get some privacy? This isn't a freak show." The nurse folded her arms,
"You can refuse to allow me to treat your partner, but you are not going to bully me out of my own hospital wing." She retorted, much to his annoyance. There wasn't time, however, for them to argue.
"Fine, but whatever happens, you do not interfere." He turned his attention back to Liadan, grasping the hilt of the dagger in one hand, tightening his other arm round her waist as she instinctively clutched at his shoulder with the arm she was still able to move. There was a very good reason why Dante refused to use green orbs on anyone who didn't have demonic blood unless it was absolutely necessary and that was mainly that demons didn't mind pain; most of them actually thrived on it. As a result, healing though using the crystallised demon fluids found within green orbs wasn't pleasant, even for a demon. For a person with no demon blood in them, the cure was sometimes more fatal than the injury. Many humans who had attempted to use green orbs had died from the sheer stress on their system caused by the intense agony the orb caused as it healed. Liadan was stronger than most humans thanks to her were-beast heritage, but it was still a torturous experience for her and he knew that she would hate the fact that others had witnessed it. If he had the time he would have taken her to their room, if not further in order to give them both the privacy they preferred, but she was bleeding pretty heavily and they still needed to find out what the hell was going on here.
Madam Poppy Pomfrey was confident in her abilities as a nurse and healer, and she was more than a little sceptical that this man would be able to heal such a significant wound as his partner had acquired. The ribs were nothing compared to the dagger through the shoulder, which had no doubt shattered the bone and ripped ligaments and muscles on its way through. She would wait until he realised that he couldn't do anything, even though all her instincts told her that it might be too late for the woman; shock could kill just as easily as any physical injury, and she was clearly in shock. Both Pomfrey and McGonagall flinched at the cry that came from Liadan as Dante yanked the dagger from her shoulder, the blade accompanied by yet another spray of dark blood. He glared at the blade in disgust and flung it away, where it skittered on the stone floor before crumbling into dust and blowing away. He reached behind his back and pulled out one of the green orbs that had been found in the Forest a few days earlier. Before Liadan had a chance to recover from the pain of the blade's removal, he held the orb against her shoulder. If her initial wail of pain was bad, the scream that was torn from her throat was appalling. Seconds later, Dante clamped his hand over the back of her neck and guided her head down, where she bit down on his shoulder, muffling her cries and giving her something to hold onto. Even so, her screams were still very audible, raking over the sensibilities of the nurse, whose foremost instincts were to relieve such pain. "It's almost over, woman." Dante murmured against her hair, hissing slightly as her teeth punctured both his undershirt and the skin of his shoulder. The wound was a minor irritation compared to what she was going through, and would heal within seconds, if not quicker. As suddenly as it had started, the screaming stopped, though the ears of those gathered in the hospital wing still rang. Liadan slumped against Dante, shaking violently as the aftershocks of the extreme pain rippled through her.
"Dante..." she whimpered against his neck, tightening her arms round his neck. Her whole body throbbed in a way that was reminiscent of the first few days following the attack on Dumary Island, which seemed to be a side effect of using the green orbs and another reason why Dante didn't like using them on her. She lifted her head slightly, just enough to meet his worried eyes, "Can I pass out now?" A small smile tugged at his lips and he smoothed a hand down the side of her face.
"Yeah, you can." He sighed inwardly as her eyes rolled up to show the whites, her head falling back onto his shoulder. They had been lucky; she'd not stopped breathing this time. "Professor McGonagall, could you send one of your house elves down to our room in a little while? I need to get her cleaned up and our clothing is going to need mending and cleaning." The deputy headmistress blinked, surprised by the lack of a mocking tone in his voice as he gathered his now unconscious partner up and got to his feet.
"Of course." He nodded slightly, before turning and leaving the room without another word.
Dante pointedly ignored both children and adults as he made his way down to their rooms. He had no doubt that rumours were already running wild through the school and the events of barely an hour earlier were being embellished until they would eventually bear little resemblance to the truth. He didn't care. If there was anything he had learned during his colourful life, it was that people believed whatever they wanted, regardless of what the truth was, especially in the wizarding world. Since they didn't have a form of organised religion, wizards seemed to make 'gods' and 'devils' out of their celebrities. The Potter kid and Voldemort were prime examples, the kid being dubbed 'The Boy Who Lived' and even 'The Chosen One', while Voldemort had various different monikers such as 'He Who Must Not Be Named' and You-Know-Who'. Of course it depended on which side of the 'war' you were on as to who was the god and who was the devil, but the fanaticism was the same. Fanatics of any kind made him nervous; even Lady had when they first met, considering how she had shot him in the forehead even before she realised that he had demon blood in him, simply because she was so determined to kill her father herself. Perhaps his aversion to them was simply because he could imagine himself heading down that path himself if he wasn't careful, especially considering what happened to Vergil.
Liadan barely moved as he laid her on the bed; the healing would have depleted her already taxed energy reserves and she would probably sleep for a while. The only remaining physical evidence that she had been injured were the tears in her clothing and the dried blood down one side but even so she looked achingly vulnerable, a word he didn't usually associated with her, but one that had been used too often of late. Sighing, he sat on the edge of the bed and carefully began removing the tattered remnants of her shirt, hoping that the house elves could fix the garment, as well as get the bloodstains from both of their clothes. He was going to have to insist that she start to learn how to use guns, regardless of her nervousness round them. While he couldn't say for sure that her having a gun would have limited the damage done this time, the next time it might. The next time it could be the difference between loosing her and keeping her with him. There really wasn't a lot he wouldn't do to ensure that that happened. The tingle of house elf magic was closely followed by a quiet pop, and drew him out of his musing.
"How can Tippy help Master Dante?" At least the woman had had the foresight to send a female. In his limited experience with the creatures, he found that females tended to be more intelligent, and less excitable, than the males. Besides, he was feeling much too protective of his mate to even consider having another male near her. He still wasn't a big fan of all the subservience, especially considering how much power these creatures had, but at the end of the day it wasn't his concern.
"I need you to get these clothes cleaned and mended, please Tippy." He unzipped and tugged off his undershirt as he spoke, tossing it lightly on the pile of Liadan's clothes. "The bed will probably need cleaning while we're in the bathroom as well." The little elf nodded, ears flapping as she did so. "Perhaps a dressing gown for Liadan too."
"Anything else, Master Dante?"
"No." A quick glance at the clock told him that it was nearly ten o'clock. "Maybe later we'll have some food. Will you be around?" Another vigorous nod,
"Just call Tippy's name and Tippy will come." The little elf took Dante's silent nod, and him gathering Liadan up as her cue to leave.
Dante was still awake when Liadan finally came out of the deep, exhausted sleep she'd spent the last eight or so hours in. He'd spent the night reading over the various witness statements, before going on to read a huge tome called 'Hogwarts: A History', though that had taken some getting through, especially with the sickeningly biased theme that underlined most of the writing. Wizards and their egos could put most demons to shame, which was quite a feat considering that pride was a sin and as such something that demons liked to excel in. In truth he'd not been all that interested in the book, but couldn't bring himself to move from where he rested with his back against the headboard of the bed, Liadan curled up against him with her head on his lap and all but hugging his legs. She had had a couple of nightmares, which had to be expected considering the circumstances of her injuries, but had settled down almost as soon as he began stroking her hair.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." He smiled as she blinked up at him. He found her unutterably adorable when she looked this way, still warm and soft from sleep.
"It's morning already?" She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
"Yep, and you developed these strange, limpet type tendencies which meant I couldn't move all night." He scowled and indicated the huge book on the bedside table. "I ended up reading that bloody thing."
"Aw, poor baby." She smirked up at him, "Did you have to actually read a book?"
"Fuck you." He shoved her off of him as she giggled.
"Hate to break it to you, baby, but you already did." She informed him, "On numerous occasions."
"Bitch." She crawled back over to perch on his lap, a knee on either side of his thighs.
"If you're trying to insult me, you're going to have to do better than that."
"Yeah, yeah." He glanced pointedly down to her chest. "You really expect me to think up a decent insult with you sitting there all sexy and naked?"
"I never thought you were so easily distracted."
"Only by you." He leaned forwards and kissed her. "Go get rid of that kitten breath sweetheart. We've been summoned to a meeting with our esteemed employer after breakfast." Liadan sighed and pushed herself off of him and the bed.
"Does that mean we have to eat in the Great Hall again?" She wondered, "I don't know about you, but I felt like I was some kind of museum exhibit last night at dinner."
"You're not wrinkly enough to be a museum exhibit."
"Ha ha." Dante grinned and hopped off the bed too, heading towards the dressing gowns that Tippy had brought down for them both the night before.
"Minnie's given us a house elf while we're here." He told her, "I'll get her to bring us some breakfast down here." Truth be told, he really didn't fancy sitting up on the teacher's table either; it was one thing to be the centre of attention in a club full of good looking women, but when the onlookers were teenagers with no idea of how the real world worked, then it was just annoying.
"You're not joining me?" The glance over her shoulder, promising a lot of fun was incredibly tempting,
"Sorry sweetheart." He grinned, "If I joined you in there now, I wouldn't let you out until lunchtime and, as you said last night, I'm 'trying to work here'." Liadan stuck her tongue out and sauntered into the bathroom. Dante smothered a groan as he watched her leave; he wanted nothing more than to follow her into the bathroom and make good on the threat of keeping her there indefinitely, but they were expected at the meeting that was to take place after breakfast, though he wasn't at all sure that it would do anything but waste time. Calling Tippy, he gave the little creature an order for breakfast before tying the light dressing gown loosely round himself.
The grounds of the school really were beautiful, as was the so-called Forbidden Forest in the early morning, he mused, wandering over to the large windows and he suspected that he and Liadan would have quite an enjoyable time wandering through the place, considering the creatures that were supposed to live there. His thoughts soon turned away from the view and pondered over the subject of guns for Liadan. He was determined that she was going to learn how to use them, but she would need a pair of her own. He'd already given his father's guns, Luce and Ombra, to Trish so he would have to have Liadan's guns made from scratch as well as having to teach her how to channel her energy through the weapons so that she wouldn't need to reload. The most difficult part of the whole operation was going to be to persuade her to actually agree to carry and use the weapons. Vergil had never agreed with his twin's fascination or love for guns, but that was because Vergil considered firearms to be barbaric weapons, with no skill or honour involved in their use. Dante suspected that Liadan's dislike of guns was either due to something from her childhood or it was irrational and had no basis, which could make it harder for him to persuade her to start using them.
With an absent yawn, he perched himself on the large stone window ledge, tilting his head back against the stone and closing his eyes as he soaked up the early morning sun. He'd never appreciated the early morning until he'd discovered Liadan's new-found habit of watching the sun rise, although he didn't often bother with it; it was Liadan's private time and he would only interfere if necessary. What was more important at this point in time was what the hell was going on here; there was no way any of the kids at the school had enough power to bring over so many demons, which meant that either the person opening the portal was either a 'Muggle' or they knew a little about the demon world. It couldn't be a Muggle though, since the portal had to be opened near to where the demons appeared, which meant the little wizarding village nearby, so there had to be more people in the wizarding world who knew that demons existed than Dumbledore believed. Did that mean that all this was nothing more than an elaborate plot to get him here? If so, then who could be behind it? There was no evidence that Mundus had managed to build up his power base; after all it had taken him two thousand years last time. No way could he have managed to do it again this quickly. One of his lackeys? Maybe, after all Mundus wasn't dead, simply sealed back in the demon world. His underlings would no doubt be fighting for the opportunity to prove their loyalty and perhaps take the place of the generals who had been destroyed by Dante on Mallet Island. If they hadn't all turned on him the moment he reappeared down in the Underworld.
"You look deep in thought." He opened one eye to see Liadan emerge from the bathroom, wrapped up in her dressing gown and absently fastening her hair into a loose knot at the back of her neck.
"H'm." He held out one arm, smiling in satisfaction as she settled on his lap, head tucked under his chin and her fingers slipping under the butter soft material of his dressing gown and drawing idle doodles on his chest.
"You know, there were too many demons out there last night for the summoner to be an idle one. Whoever it was has to know something about the demon world, or truly believe that what they're summoning exists."
"I agree." He closed his eye again, resting his chin on the crown of her head, inhaling the sandalwood scent of the body wash that she'd decided to use this time. "That doesn't mean we're going to tell Dumbledore and his little friends everything. The less the wizarding world knows about demons the better." Liadan nodded against him. "I want them to know as little as possible about you, as well."
"Oh?"
"We both know that most demons won't touch you, but humans...they're unpredictable at the best of times. We can't rule out the possibility that a human will try and use you as some kind of bargaining chip." It was a good point. Despite their powers and strength, most demons were foot soldiers and hence quite predictable. The intelligent ones were the demon equivalent of the aristocracy and had also come to a similar conclusion that Trish and Lady had regarding his power gaining abilities, despite the fact that there was no concrete proof, and they weren't willing to risk everything on the possibility that his wife's death would give Dante power beyond that of even his father. If that happened they would have no chance at wiping Sparda's bloodline out of existence and they knew it. That obviously meant that they were simply biding their time, but since there was nothing to be done about that until they made their move Dante was of the opinion that they shouldn't worry about it.
"Well. There's nothing we can do until we actually find out what the Headmaster has to say." Liadan straightened to look up at him. "How about some breakfast? Did you get us anything interesting?" She hopped up and wandered over to the trolley that Tippy had brought for them.
"We'd better keep an eye on that Snape character too." He commented, glancing back out of the window. "There's something about him I'm not sure about."
"Anything in particular, or just a feeling?" She wondered, tugging the trolley with its covered trays back over with her and returning to her place on his lap.
"Just a feeling." Though they both knew that his 'feelings' usually had some substance behind them. "I don't want to get dragged into this little war if we can help it." He turned his gaze back onto her as she squealed in delight at what she discovered under the silver covers; piles of fresh fruit, yoghurt with honey, toast, fruit juice and coffee, though she grimaced at the jug of tomato juice that was one of his vices. Personally he wouldn't have gone for this type of breakfast if he had the choice, but the greasy and heavy sounding menu Tippy had reeled off when asked what was for breakfast would no doubt turn Liadan's stomach and if he wanted her to put back on the weight that she had lost it would be best to indulge her preferences as much as possible. He smiled as she held a strawberry up to his lips, an overly innocent expression on her face. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Having breakfast with my husband." Her grin widened as he bit into the fruit, her gaze following the juice that escaped and trickled down his chin and neck.
"H'm, I didn't realise that I was on the menu." He tilted his head back as her tongue ran up his throat, collecting the liquid.
"What, you never head of breakfast in bed?" She smirked and dipped the remaining half of the fruit into the yoghurt,
"Are you trying to seduce me, woman?" He ignored the mischievous glint in her eyes as he was forced to rearrange her on his lap so that she didn't accidentally crush certain areas of his anatomy as they became increasingly interested in the proceedings.
"I'm not trying anything." She protested, biting into her half of the fruit. "Then again, I remember you promising me a belated honeymoon, including a lot of time in the bedroom."
"Did I now?" He glanced over towards the clock on the mantelpiece above the fireplace. "We do have that meeting to go to, remember?"
"It's only seven o'clock. There's no way they're going to start a meeting that early, especially on a Saturday morning."
"You have a point." He reached out and tugged at the belt of her dressing gown, "And I really don't want to start breaking my promises to you." Liadan blushed slightly as he slid the belt from round her waist, something that pleased him immensely, since he was in the mood for her to be sweet and innocent. There were times when he enjoyed her being a dirty little madam, such as when they were at the Love Planet and she was wearing one of her 'clubbing' outfits, but he also appreciated it when she was stripped of make up and sexy trappings to reveal her gentle, loving side.
"Well then," she got to her feet and stepped back, allowing her robe to fall open, "Come away from the window and start keeping your promise." A rather predatory smile tugged at his lips as he pushed himself to his feet, after all, it was an offer he couldn't really refuse.
"We really should get dressed." Dante murmured, a while later, as he lay on his side next to Liadan. Her head rested on his shoulder and their legs were twined together as his fingers absently circled her hipbone. He was pleased to note that she looked thoroughly ravished; skin flushed, lips swollen and the bun at the nape of her neck a shadow of its former self, sweaty strands now escaping and clinging to her cheeks and neck. "I'm sure that we've got a visitor waiting in the other room, and they're pretty much traumatised now." Of course, that probably had more to do with the rather loud mewling cry that she had made when she climaxed than the sight of them wrapped up together on the bed, their dressing gowns strategically arranged round them. Despite his comment, he made no attempt to move, still encased in the soft cocoon of their afterglow and pretty sure that Liadan was on the verge of sleep again, having used up quite a bit of the energy she had regained overnight. "My wife." He whispered, loving the fact that he was in a position where he could say those words. His hand moved round from her hip to her soft belly, stroking and caressing, fingertips tracing the tiny stretch marks that were still fading. The last physical signs that she had carried his child, no matter how short the time. Leaning down, he gently kissed the area, slowly moving up her body, as she shifted languorously, arms loosely wrapping round his shoulders as his head moved between her breasts.
"M'm, Dante..." She was still half asleep, legs shifting against his as she sighed happily. All thoughts of their visitors had fled from both their minds.
"Lia..." he breathed in her ear, waiting until she turned her head to look at him, a small frown creasing her forehead slightly at the sight of the thin crimson line circling the pale blue of his irises. For a long few moments he simply gazed at her. There was so much he wanted to tell her; that he loved her, needed her, but most of all at that moment he wanted to give her all the children she ever wanted, to see her heavy with his baby. "My beautiful little woman." He'd never had a compulsion like this before and he had had plenty of bed-mates before Liadan, but never had his body wanted...demanded...that he take a woman to purposely make her pregnant.
The sound of knocking on the door of their rooms poured proverbial cold water on the proceedings and Dante groaned, slumping forwards and burying his face in crux of her neck as she snickered. "Not funny." He snarled, though there was no real heat behind the gesture.
"Don't be such a grouch." She tapped his nose and giggled again as he snarled and pretended to nip at her fingers before pushing himself to his feet and shucked off his dressing gown to puddle on the floor as he headed over to the pile of clothing at one side of the room. Liadan moved round onto her stomach and idly crossed her ankles in the air, appreciating his naked form much as a sculptor might admire a virgin block of marble, her cheek resting on one hand as she did so. His innate confidence and the ease with which he could walk round in the nude and still be imposing was just as, if not more, attractive than his physical appearance alone.
"Go get cleaned up woman. I'm guessing that's our escort to the meeting." He glanced over when she sighed,
"They're going to want to know what happened yesterday, aren't they?"
"Doesn't mean that we have to tell them anything." He replied, tugging on his jeans, a slight frown of disgust on his face at the sight of the neatly ironed creases in them.
"But…"
"It's none of their business how I healed you; they hired us to find out who's summoning the demons, nothing else." He turned to look at her properly this time, foregoing the hunt for his boots momentarily, causing Liadan to shift uncomfortably. Most people only saw what Dante wanted them to see: an egotistical, cocky and sometimes callous merc. Those who knew him well, however, were aware that he was also capable of deep loyalty and compassion as well as being very intelligent and intuitive. It was that empathic knack that Liadan sometimes dreaded, since it meant that she ended up admitting to things that she would usually have kept to herself. She tilted her head up slightly as he came to crouch down next to her, holding her chin with his fingers, "I told you that I'd protect you and I meant it; they won't lay a finger on you without getting past me first."
"Promise?" She winced inwardly at the childish lilt to her voice, but Dante simply smiled,
"I promise." He would tease her about this later, he decided, but for the moment he simply wanted to settle her nerves. Besides she did look adorable, with wide grey eyes and slightly trembling lower lip only enhancing the fading ravished look she had been sporting over the past few minutes. He had to admit that she had coped really rather well with being immersed in the wizarding world after all the horror stories she had no doubt been subjected to as a child. It made sense, however, that the previous night's events would have unsettled her; the sight of two witches with drawn wands advancing on her when she was badly wounded could not have done much for her state of mind and being side-swiped by a Marionette had to have hurt her confidence as well; whilst she might be as naturally strong or as fast as a full blood were-beast, their training together had given her an edge that her contemporaries lacked, and she could usually breeze through a pack of Marionettes with hardly a scratch on her. Being almost killed by one had to be embarrassing and not something she was going to be particularly happy about. He had more than enough confidence for both of them, of course, but that didn't mean that he liked seeing her knocked on her ass, either literally or figuratively and both had happened to her last night. "Go get cleaned up." He kissed her softly, almost chastely, with none of the previous sexual overtones. Just a gentle affirmation of his promise. "Before I decided to forget this damned meeting." He added, with a lascivious smirk, watching as she rolled her eyes and got to her feet, sauntering into the bathroom after snagging her clothes from the side.
To be honest, he needed more time to fully pull himself together; the strange yearning he'd had to get her pregnant was still gnawing at the back of his mind. It had to be a sensation stemming from his demonic side, though why it had reared its head now, of all times, he had no idea. There was so much about his instincts and demonic nature that he didn't know and it wasn't really as though he had all that many people he could turn to; his father was dead, Trish had only just been created by Mundus when he sent her to bring Dante to Mallet Island so she had even less experience of demonic instincts than he did, besides it would be too weird talking about his sex life to the woman who he considered a sister and who looked so much like his mother, while any other half-breed or low level demon either attacked him or stayed well away.
"Good morning, Mr Dante." Professor McGonagall greeted from where she was stood in front of the fireplace.
"Drop the honorifics Minnie, you and I both know you don't like me." He commented, shrugging on his waistcoat.
"That may be, but it doesn't mean that I cannot be polite." She retorted, frowning slightly at his snort.
"Oh please. That's just to make you feel better about the fact that you can't stand me." He smirked, though it was tinged with sadness, "My brother was a cold, callous bastard obsessed with reconnecting the human world with the demon world, but at least he was honest about it; he didn't hide behind 'good manners'." Vergil had always been unfailingly articulate and civilised, but he'd not tried to hide his true feelings, though the relationship between the brothers had always been complicated, but this woman didn't need to know that.
"I didn't realise that you had a brother."
"There's a lot you don't know about me." He informed her, coldly. "But I will give you a friendly warning; the next time Liadan tells you or Nurse Ratchet up in the infirmary to back off, you'd better damned well do it." For the first time since meeting this man, Professor Minerva McGonagall was uncomfortably aware of his power. Having only heard of the incident at the entrance hall second hand she had been understandably sceptical about what she had been told. At this moment in time, however, he had dropped any pretence of being an ignorant mercenary and now exuded a menacing aura that seemed more appropriate to the brother he had just spoken of. "Y'see, I'm very protective of her and I take the way you two treated her last night as a personal insult." He stepped closer to the older witch, who held her ground. "It's not a good idea to insult me like that, Professor. I don't react well to it."
"Dante? Have you seen my bracers?" Liadan blinked and stopped in her tracks, a little surprised at the level of tension in the room as she entered. Professor McGonagall also blinked, startled at the other woman's miraculous recovery.
"On the bedside table, unless they got knocked off earlier." Dante turned away from McGonagall, to pick up his jacket. "You almost ready?"
"Um, yeah...in a minute." She frowned, but said nothing as she ducked back into the bedroom to look again for her bracers.
"So, care to tell me what exactly this meeting is about?" Dante wondered, leaning back against the fireplace, idly spinning Ivory on one finger. The dark, cloying aura around him had faded to almost nothing, and his carefree attitude appeared to have reasserted itself. "We're not going to get any work done if you keep dragging us into meetings, you know?"
"I believe that the Headmaster simply wants your report of the events that took place last night." McGonagall finally told him. The whole incident had been over before the Professors had arrived at the scene and it had taken hours to calm the students, especially those who had been amongst the group attacked. Privately, she was expecting a bombardment of owls from concerned parents in the next few days and it would be nice to have something to reassure them with. It didn't help that more than a few of the older students had become enamoured with the mercenaries and she found herself grateful that Valentine's Day was months away. Whatever Dante was going to say in response to her information was lost as Liadan re-emerged from the bedroom.
"Surely it would be better for the Headmaster to let us get on with our job, before he starts asking for reports? We've only been here one night after all. That's not much time in which to have anything to report."
"You're calling the events of last night nothing?" McGonagall watched in amazement as Dante and Liadan glanced at each other, clearly surprised at her vehemence.
"Well, it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary..." The brunette rolled her previously injured shoulder carefully. Despite the warmth of the bath she had had that morning the muscles were still stiff, a by-product of the sudden healing they had undergone the night before. She glanced back at Dante to see if he brought up the discussion they had had earlier but he said nothing, only frowned slightly at her shoulder.
"Yes, well…perhaps it may be an ordinary occurrence to you," McGonagall admittedly, faintly, "However, we have the parents of our students and the governing body to answer to, and the events of last night are not going to be something they will be happy about. The Headmaster will need to know exactly what happened in order to reassure them."
The meeting had been as useless as Dante had predicted, at least from the hunters' point of view. They had no interest in what the Headmaster was going to tell the parents or the board of governors and they point blank refused to allow any form of experimentation to take place using the orbs, insisting that they shouldn't be used on humans and ignoring the suspicious questions regarding the fact that Dante had used one on Liadan. The only good thing that came out of it was that they were able to confirm with Morrison that the retainer had been transferred as well as a small stipend exchanged into wizarding money for their trip down to Hogsmeade. Liadan wasn't at all sure what to expect from the only wholly wizarding village in the UK, but Dante seemed completely at ease.
"You just want to wander round for a bit?" She wondered. "I still haven't had chance to look over those statements yet, so we don't know who we need to interview." He shrugged and stopped outside the gates of the school, looking down towards the village. The kids were travelling down in carriages drawn by black, skeletal horse-like creatures with wings that Dante told her were called Thestrals. Apparently only people who had witnessed death first had could see the creatures, which explained why there weren't many of the students were even aware of them. Despite herself, Liadan found that she was becoming quite intrigued by this world, though she didn't really fancy staying here for longer than necessary.
"Whoever's doing the summoning lives round here." He commented, pushing his duster back in order to shove his hands in his pockets. "Or at least is very familiar with the area. There might be something that gives us an indication about who it is." Liadan nodded. It would be Dante doing the sensing of course; she could only really detect demonic energy when it was 'fresh' so to speak, anything longer than a few hours and she wouldn't know that anything demonic had been present. She could, however, smell the presence of the three teenagers who had been in the meeting, despite the fact that she couldn't see them.
"How much d'you think he knows?" She wondered, meaning the Headmaster, who had been more or less silent during the meeting, studying both herself and Dante a lot closer than she was completely comfortable with. Dante shrugged,
"More than he's going to admit, that's for sure." He glanced over to where the teenagers were stood under some kind of spell or magical object that allowed them to be invisible.
"Sparda?"
"Probably. Dad's story is nothing more than a little known fairytale for humans nowadays, but Dumbledore's old enough to have been around when it wasn't quite as obscure as it is now. Whether he believes in it or not is a different matter." Liadan sighed and nibbled at her thumbnail.
"If he knows about that, then he's got to know about me…"
"Probably." He agreed, and then yanked her hand away from her mouth. "Stop it." He really hated that nervous habit; not only did it leave her hands looking tatty, but the ragged nails also had a habit of catching on his skin and distracting him from the rather pleasant haze that he would fall into when she would run her fingertips over his back. The awareness of the presence of their three little eavesdroppers was pushed to the back of his mind as he allowed his fingers to trap her hand and prevent her from continuing the assault on her nails. "Even if he does, he can't do anything to you, remember?" He released her hand as she sighed and nodded. "How's your shoulder?"
"A little stiff." She rolled it experimentally and was pleased to feel only a slight tug from the muscles.
"Good." He nodded decisively, "When we get back from Hogsmeade you're going to get your first shooting lesson." Liadan blinked and stared up at him.
"What?"
"It's time you learned how to shoot." He reiterated, as though talking to a small child.
"You know I don't like guns…"
"I don't care." He interrupted, startling her slightly. "If you'd had guns last night you'd have been able to drive that Marionette off without getting yourself injured; I'm not going to let you get yourself into that situation again." He was surprised that she didn't make a comment, especially with the way her eyes were hardening. "It's your decision; either you learn how to shoot or you go back to the shop and never go on another job with me, or the others, again." Liadan felt her jaw drop at the declaration. It was true that he had been trying to get her to learn how to shoot for years, but he'd always backed away after she told him point blank that she wasn't going to do it. He'd never given her this kind of ultimatum, whatever the topic under discussion, never mind the fact that he was talking to her like she was some kind of stroppy teenager.
"I…"
"Don't you dare tell me you're scared, either." He snapped. "It's all right to be afraid, but this…you're acting like a spoiled brat and the last time I checked, I'm damned sure I didn't marry a cladhaire." Despite the surge of satisfaction at her reaction he didn't like taunting her like this, but it was the only way he knew of that would sting her pride enough to persuade her to get over her fear of firearms, and from the way her eyes flashed and her teeth bared, he was pretty sure he'd hit a nerve.
"You bastard." She hissed and swung a palm towards him, which he gripped by the wrist all too easily, a smirk crossing his face and drawing an enraged growl from her.
She really should know better by now, Liadan mused a few moments later, as she found herself pinned up against the rough bark of a nearby tree, Dante flat against her and her arms held above her head by the wrists. He had even gone so far as to push his hips between her thighs in order to make it difficult for her kick or knee him and partly, she was sure, to alleviate some of the tension that had built up during the brief scuffle. She knew that was very rare for her to score a victory over Dante in training, never mind when she lost her temper and yet she still tried.
"You cooled off yet, sweetheart?" She could take some small comfort in the fact that he was at least breathing heavily, she mused, her own chest heaving as her heart rate began to calm. "'Cause I'm pretty sure I could go another couple of rounds, if you want."
"I'm sure you could." She retorted, with a small smile. "I think we need to have a discussion about your methods of persuasion." He grinned, releasing his hold on her wrists.
"It worked, didn't it?" She sighed and nodded, wrapping her arms round his shoulders,
"Yeah, all right. Don't blame me if I fuck up though." She paused then grinned, "Just remember, payback's a bitch." His chest vibrated with a pleased chuckle and he ran his hands lazily up and down her sides.
"I'll take my punishment like a good boy." He assured her. "But it's going to have to wait until after we've finished at Hogsmeade."
"How about a preview, then?" Her pout was deliberately playful and drew another laugh from him, but he still indulged her, channelling the last of the energy through lips and tongue. It took quite an effort for him to pull away, since it wasn't as though they'd never made love outdoors and he was a born exhibitionist, but that trait didn't include giving out free shows to teenage wizards.
"C'mon, you little hussy." He pushed himself away from her and made his way back to the path. "We've got work to do." Liadan snorted but didn't deign to reply; she was no doubt plotting her revenge and he really didn't want to interrupt, not when the forms of retribution she subjected him to were so much fun.
"You do realise that those three are no doubt going to scamper off to try and find out about Sparda." She finally spoke a few minutes later, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen over the couple. Dante shrugged,
"It's about time the kid started questioning Dumbledore."
"Oh?" She had never asked him about the previous contact he'd had with the wizarding world, and he hadn't offered any information, though he obliviously had informants outside of Dumbledore's influence.
"Yep." She listened, incredulously, as he briefly described Potter's life and the previous three years happenings at the school.
"That's insane." She finally blurted out once he'd finished talking. "How can he even justify doing that to the kid?" Dante shrugged.
"Partly because he's the 'Chosen One' and partly because it hasn't crossed his mind to start questioning what's going on without going hysterical about it. No one's going to take him seriously as an adult if he's throwing temper tantrums and sulking." He sighed, "Besides, no one wants to question Dumbledore's actions; most wizards think he's wonderful for defeating the last Dark Lord they had and he's been more or less venerated to almost godlike levels. None of them want to believe that he's still human, and still fallible." He snorted, "Of course, they also think he's mad, but they don't look underneath the surface." Liadan tilted her head to one side,
"You mean they don't think that they're being manipulated?" He shook his head, then paused,
"Well, I think some of them do. Snape, for one, but then I get the feeling he himself is playing both sides." They were talking softly now, walking through the main thoroughfare of the village and ignoring the whispers from the students and curious gazes of the residents. Liadan sighed and rested her hands on the tops of the hilts of her daggers,
"Why do they have to make things so complicated?" She wondered, almost petulantly. Dante smirked,
"C'mon woman, it's no fun outwitting them if it's not complicated." Liadan snorted, "That's very unladylike, y'know."
"I'm not interested in outwitting wizards, and no one's ever accused me of being a lady." Dante opened his mouth to make a sarcastic retort, which would no doubt have earned him a not-so-playful punch on the shoulder, but was interrupted by a masculine voice calling out his wife's name.
Liadan froze momentarily at the voice behind her, a small part of her praying that it wasn't who she thought it was, though the scent alone was unmistakeable, despite the fact that it had be more than ten years since she'd last smelled it. It had been a long time since she'd run into another were-beast, even by accident. After she killed the hunter it had been better to stay away from the other clans in case the guy had had friends looking for his killer and after a while she had just gotten used to being alone. It wasn't that she hadn't thought about the other clans, she had after all grown up with them, but there had always been something that separated her from them, even the ones she had considered friends. There had always been the underlying knowledge that she wasn't a full blood were-beast that she was physically weaker than the others and couldn't transform fully. The crueller ones had teased her mercilessly and were no doubt relieved that she had dropped off the radar.
"I never thought I'd see you here, my dear." She smothered a wince at the slightly supercilious tone of voice. It was definitely Conrad; there weren't all that many people she knew who spoke in such a manner. Plastering a smile on her face, she turned to see a tall, slender man heading in their direction. He was even prettier than she remembered, if that were possible, with high cheekbones, elegant almond shaped green eyes and thick, shoulder length black hair neatly tied in a ponytail. She glanced up at Dante, who seemed almost the polar opposite of her old acquaintance. Her husband was taller than him by at least a couple of inches, much broader at the chest and shoulders and clearly more muscular compared to the willowy elegance of the dark haired were-beast. There was no mistaking the fact that Dante was masculine, whereas the other male seemed more androgynous; smooth shaven, long haired and almost feminine in contrast to Dante's short hair and stubbled jaw. When she was younger she had gone for the pretty-boy look, she had to admit, but her tastes had changed over time and she much preferred Dante's more rugged, sculptured bearing. She ignored his sardonically raised eyebrow as Conrad took her hands and proceeded to kiss her on either cheek, still keeping the smile on her face as she stepped back out of range and a little further into Dante's personal space. It was an instinctive movement and she wasn't even aware that she had done it, though Dante certainly was.
"Well, people change." Liadan shrugged as Conrad shook his head,
"No, you're still as beautiful as ever."
"And you're still a flatterer." She retorted, to which Conrad waved his hand as though to say 'caught me'.
"What are you doing here?" He wondered again, seemingly ignoring the tall, white haired man clad in blood red clothing with the huge Zweihänder sheathed on his back. "No one I spoke to knew where you disappeared to after your mother died."
"Oh, Dante and I are looking into these strange sightings that have been going on round here lately." Now, Conrad seemed to notice the man stood next to her. Dante, for his part, was gazing at the smaller man with a detached expression of supreme boredom. It was the expression he had a tendency to use on strangers and people he didn't trust. Beneath the seemingly indifferent visage however, his interest had definitely been piqued by this development. Liadan didn't talk about her past all that much and he'd never asked, mostly because he knew that if he did that would open him up to questions about his mother and Vergil, so he wasn't all that surprised that she'd never mentioned this man. What was intriguing was the way she had moved closer to him, even as she was greeting her 'friend', and also that the man was simply drenched in demonic energy; there couldn't be more of the stuff coating him if he'd bathed in it. It would appear that their little trip into Hogsmeade had proved more fruitful than Dante had imagined, though there was no way he could confront the man at this point. Dumbledore had made it clear that he wanted the summoner taking into custody, though privately Dante wasn't so sure about that; it was bad enough that wizards even knew that the demon world existed and he wasn't at all sure that he liked the idea of any of them, especially their so-called Ministry, getting their hands on anything that could summon demons. The fact that he was an old acquaintance of Liadan's could also cause some problems; though it was obvious to Dante at least that she didn't return the pretty-boy's enthusiasm at being reacquainted. "Dante, this is Conrad Mackenzie, an old friend." Conrad chuckled, holding out a hand towards Dante, though his gaze was fixed on Liadan,
"We were closer than that once, remember?" If he had been considering shaking the man's hand, the implication in his voice would have put paid to that idea. The insinuation was obvious, and the devil hunter felt an unusual surge of jealousy well up inside him. Dante wasn't usually a jealous being; he had all that he wanted, aside from an endless supply of pizza and strawberry sundaes, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Liadan belonged to him completely. So why did he feel this irrational urge to prove to this man that she wasn't interested in anyone but him?
"I wouldn't have made you a good wife, you know that." There was a tired undertone to Liadan's voice that gave the impression that it wasn't a new discussion, though it did make him wonder what she meant by not being a 'good wife'. She was pretty good as far as he was concerned, not that either of them conformed to the stereotypical images of husband and wife.
"I tend to disagree." Conrad smiled and shrugged carelessly, "But never mind; I'm just so glad to have run into you again after all these years. You really must join me for lunch and regal me with tales of your adventures." Dante couldn't hold back the disgusted snort that came from him at that comment, and the almost feverish gleam in the green eyes; only people who had no experience of 'adventures' found them to be that exciting. Of course they were, he couldn't deny that any more than he could deny the way that his blood sang with the heat of battle and even the thought of it sent shivers of excitement through him, but there was always a price to pay; for him it was the loss of his mother and brother, for Liadan it was a 'safe' existence and the life of her first child. This show of sheer idiotic naiveté from someone who was clearly old enough to know better simply added to the automatic dislike that this Conrad had engendered in the devil hunter from the moment he saw him.
"Oh, um…" Liadan glanced up at Dante, "We're quite busy at the moment…" Dante's silence, other than the non-verbal reaction that had taken place a few moments earlier, worried her. Her husband didn't tend to keep his thoughts to himself, especially if he didn't like someone, but he had been silent since Conrad had called her name. That worried her almost as much as the fact that Conrad himself appeared to have changed very little from the youth she had known during her childhood and early teenage years; he was still charming and impulsive, but she was well aware that there was something 'wrong' underneath that fascinating, scholarly façade. Exactly what it was she couldn't say, but the feeling was strong enough to cause her to turn down any romantic advances he made towards her.
"Perhaps later? Surely your partner allows you some free time?" Liadan licked her lips and glanced up at Dante again. He hadn't moved and didn't give any indication of his opinion on the matter. It was almost as though his face had been carved in stone and his eyes flat and emotionless.
"Yes, perhaps later." It would be good to be in the company of another were-beast for a while and, despite the fact that there was still the matter of his failed attempt to court her, Liadan still remembered their lengthy literary discussions and silent companionship when it was her turn to sit with her great aunt. It would be nice to have a spirited argument about Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno or the recent comic adaptations of Shakespeare and whether or not such things added to the seeming decline in literary accomplishments amongst the younger generations. Conrad had been firmly against the idea of comics being anything more than petty distractions for children, whilst Liadan loved to read graphic novels. For all his talents Dante wasn't one for in-depth discussions, at least when they involved things that weren't of interest to him and literature for its own sake wasn't one of those things. There were times when she yearned for an intense debate on something she had read, but it was pointless to even try and draw Dante's attention to it, despite the fact that he could be truly eloquent when he chose. Liadan suspected that that particular trait had been his brother's speciality, and the thought of acting like Vergil probably made him more than a little uncomfortable.
Dante remained silent during the rest of the time they stayed in Hogsmeade, though it wasn't all that long before he indicated to her that they were returning to Hogwarts, after she had indulged her sweet tooth in Honeydukes. Even the sheer quantity of chocolate and other sundries she had bought had done little than induce him to raise an eyebrow as she secreted the bag in the void-space he had taught her to create. Their morning's reconnoitre had taken a lot less time than she had expected and yet Dante hadn't mentioned anything about what he had sensed, nor had he reacted in any way like he usually did when another male showed such interest in her. She was a little hurt by his seeming apathy, not because his defence of her was necessary but because she had been raised to view such displays as outward demonstrations of a couple's bond. "Dante? Is everything okay?"
"H'm? Yeah, just thinking, that's all." He flashed her a quick grin at the roll of her eyes he received in return,
"Don't strain yourself." She muttered, not all that appeased by his explanation of his behaviour.
"Don't worry, I won't." He assured her, his grin widening as she pouted at the way he refused to rise to the bait. "I did ask Minnie to get a target set up for us while you were satisfying your sweet tooth." The pout now turned into a slight scowl. "You promised."
"I know, I know. Just don't expect me to enjoy it." She groused, following him to where the large circular target had been placed near the lake.
"You'll be fine." He assured her, pulling Ebony from the holster at the small of his back. "When we get back to the office I'm going to make you a pair of your own guns, but for now I want to see how you do with Ebony and Ivory, so I know what adjustments I'll need to make." A heartfelt sigh accompanied her acceptance of the weapon, as well as his arrangement of her stance. He'd never formally learned how to shoot and so wasn't going to teach her a 'correct' method, just showing her how he himself used his guns.
Her first attempt at firing Ebony wasn't exactly something that she could be proud of. Ebony and Ivory were both particularly heavy and though they had been altered to reduce the recoil that their weight, length and unnaturally strong firepower gave them they were still unsuitable for a human to pick up, never mind actually discharging. Dante had found it immensely amusing as she squealed and dropped Ebony, shaking her hand in an attempt to get rid of the tingling in her fingers and the jolt in her wrist. The bullet sailed past the target, missing it by a good few inches. "H'm...I'll have to make your guns a little smaller and lighter." He mused, squatting down to pick Ebony up off the grass and dusting it off. "Though I don't think I've ever heard that sound come out of you before. At least not in public." He added, grinning at the glare he received for that comment. "Now, let's try that again." This time he covered her hand with his in order to support it against the recoil of the gun and allowed her to lean back against him as she fired. It was marginally better this time, he allowed, studying the target as she lowered Ebony and sighed; she had at least hit the thing this time, though her accuracy was going to take a lot of work. It had taken years for him to become as proficient with his firearms as he now was and Liadan was more used to knife throwing, which was a significantly different activity to shooting, though it did use similar hand/eye coordination. It was going to take a while to get her up to speed, especially since she wasn't all that happy about training in their use in the first place. "Come on, beautiful, give me a few more rounds and you can go read those witness statements." Liadan scowled, "Or you could start planning my punishment." He smirked at the glint in her eyes as she levelled the gun.
He spun Ebony idly on his finger while watching in silence as Liadan made her way back to the castle a few minutes later. There really was no need for her to read the witness statements; he knew perfectly well who was doing the summoning, not that she was going to be happy when he told her. She would believe him, if only because he'd lied to her once and had sworn never to do it again, considering the consequences, but she wouldn't like it.
"She's very pretty." Dumbledore's voice coming from behind him didn't surprise him. They'd both sensed the presence of the wizard a few minutes earlier.
"She's also not getting involved in your little civil war."
"I wouldn't dream of it." Dante snorted and turned back towards the target. "Have you discovered who the summoner is?"
"Perhaps." He squeezed off a couple of rounds, before pulling Ivory out. "What are you going to do if I have?"
"He will be arrested and tried for his crimes." Dumbledore barely blinked as an immense volley of bullets from Ebony and Ivory all but destroyed the target.
"What crimes? Summoning demons?" Dante snorted, "You really think your little Wizengamot will believe that?" He shook his head, "Even if they did believe you, what's going to happen if even one more witch or wizard decides to try and summon more? What if Voldemort tries it? That Saviour kid of yours is no match for full blood demons and neither of us are going to stick around any longer than necessary." He gave the wizard a sidelong glance, "And don't get any ideas about manipulating either of us into being your little pets, old man. We have enough problems of our own to handle without sorting out your crap as well."
"I understand." From a quick glance at the white haired man, Dante was in no way convinced of his sincerity.
"No, I don't think you do." He holstered his guns. "But I'm not in the mood to try and make you see sense." He had hoped that McGonagall had told the Headmaster about his not-so-subtle warning from that morning, but either she hadn't mention it or Dumbledore wasn't taking it seriously. Dante wasn't sure what he intended to do about Conrad yet, though he was certain that his acquaintance with the reality of the Underworld couldn't be allowed to become public knowledge, never mind the interest he had shown towards Liadan. Even if his wife thought of her old 'friend' as nothing more than that, and perhaps even less if her reactions towards him were any indication, it was pretty clear to Dante that the man himself harboured no such illusions. That was unacceptable, though understandable in his view, but he had to remember that Liadan was more than capable of defending herself against an unwanted suitor, even a full blood were-beast. After all, she may not be as physically strong or able to fully transform, but Dante had expanded on the training her mother had given her with her daggers and he would wager she could defeat any were-beast in battle, no matter how well trained they were.
"Should I have the target repaired, Dante?"
"No." He wasn't in the mood to continue practising and there was no fun in hitting targets that neither moved nor reacted. "I'm going for a nap." He decided and turned towards the castle, a small smile tugging at his lips. If Liadan lived up to past experience, her punishment in retaliation for their little scuffle earlier that afternoon would no doubt be a lot of fun and it simply wouldn't do for him to fall asleep part way through the proceedings. Besides, there were times during some jobs where it was necessary to wait and while he could be patient, he never enjoyed enforced waiting, hence his heavily cultivated ability to catnap wherever and whenever he wanted.
"I want your word that you will capture the summoner alive." Dumbledore finally spoke, even as Dante turned away.
"Don't you trust me? I'm hurt." He turned back to grin at the old man, even as he walked away.
"Your word, Dante." Ah, so a hint of the power the man commanded. Dante tilted his head to one side, narrowing his eyes slightly and crossing his arms over his chest as he stopped moving. He had to concede that if he had been human, he probably would have been impressed, or even awed by the sheer power that pulsed from the wizard, but since he wasn't…
"I can only promise that I will find your little summoner for you. Whether they live to be arrested by your Aurors is up to them." The thought of fighting a full blood were-beast was something to look forward to and Dante found himself hoping that Conrad wouldn't allow himself to be apprehended peacefully. Dumbledore, on the other hand, didn't look in the slightest bit happy with that. "Take it or leave it." He shrugged and turned again, heading to their room.
It was almost like being back in the Love Planet Dante mused, a few hours later, though the atmosphere wasn't the same; the people milling round weren't human, though they had the appearance of such, they were simply magical 'dolls' programmed to act in the way expected of them. The wine wasn't too bad, though, aged properly and not conjured up. However, he was more interested in where Liadan was and just what she had in mind for the afternoon's entertainment. She'd not been in their rooms when he returned earlier on that afternoon, though she'd read the witness statements and left a note telling him to come to the this Room of Requirement before dinner. It made him wonder just what his little mate had in mind for the menu. Carelessly, he leaned back on the sofa he'd commandeered, arms spreading out across the back.
"You are late."
"H'm…really? Are you going to punish me for it?" He purred under his breath as Liadan sauntered through the smoky haze of the club. She wasn't playing around this evening; long hair falling loose round her shoulders and clad in a long, sparkling lilac dress made of cobwebs that hugged her curves and displayed long legs in black velvet thigh high boots.
"Do you deserve it?" She retorted, making her way towards him, wine glass held loosely in her fingertips.
"Oh, definitely." He licked his lips in anticipation as she placed the glass down on the table in front of him, running his hands up the velvet of her boots and over the lace of her dress to rest on her hips as she stood above him. With a brief tug, her knees buckled and she landed lightly astride him, arms settling around his neck. "Though you might be needing a spanking, considering this little outfit." Liadan tutted and wagged her finger in front of his nose,
"We're not talking about me." She reminded him, smiling as his hands crept round to the small of her back, his eyebrows raising in pleased surprise at finding that the dress was not just a halter-neck but totally backless as well. A purr escaped her as he ran his fingertips along her spine, sliding bonelessly against him, her nose buried against his throat and a wicked grin tugging at his lips as he realised he'd found another of her sensitive areas. She mewled and wriggled on his lap as he tickled his way back and forth along her bare skin, all thoughts of their previous game forgotten in favour of the sensations her mate was sending through her. Idly, he leaned his head against her and closed his eyes, listening to her breathy whimpers and feeling her hips arching towards him as she squirmed pleasantly against him. It was a gentle prologue to what was promised to be an energetic main event, but one that was rudely interrupted when the tendrils of the same demonic energy he had sensed in Hogsmeade made itself known to Dante. Liadan was blissfully unaware of the intruder, who clearly hadn't recognised his old friend in her current outfit, a fact that could be used to make a point to the were-beast now watching the pair, with a condescending smirk on his face. Dante had seen that kind of smile before, on the frat boys who went 'slumming' in the Love Planet during term time at the university nearby. Obviously this were-beast considered himself superior to anyone who lived this kind of lifestyle, regardless of the fact that an expensive education didn't necessarily make someone a better person. In fact, Dante's experience told him that those kinds of people weren't actually as civilised as those that frequented places like the Love Planet. They might be rougher round the edges and unrefined, but they were more likely to accept a person for what they were and Dante much preferred their coarse honesty to the refined lies that often came with money, especially old money.
"I thought you were supposed to be disciplining me, woman." He breathed into her hair, not taking his eyes from the figure standing in the shadows. Conrad was well aware that Dante had seen him and the devil hunter was of a mind to display to the other man just who Liadan belonged to.
"Mmf…I was enjoying that…" she grumbled, raising herself up to glare at him when he stopped the gentle stroking of her back. Her grumbles soon melted into soft whimpers as he rolled his eyes and gently tugged her head back by the hair to start nuzzling at her throat. After a few moments she tilted her head further back without any further prompting, allowing him to resume skipping his fingertips lightly up her back with one hand while he held her hips steady with his other. The significance of the act wasn't lost on Conrad; baring ones throat to another was a sign of total submission in a were-beast and only done between lovers or husband and wife. The revelation that it was Liadan who was currently squirming under Dante's ministrations was no doubt an unwelcome surprise; not only that she would dress in such a manner and be present in a place like this nightclub, but that someone whom Conrad considered as uncouth and beneath him was the one who was the one to whom she bared her throat. Briefly Dante toyed with the idea of marking her, just to rub it in, but decided against it. His method of claiming ownership wasn't a common one, even amongst were-beasts and was a very private gesture, not one that he wanted to reduce to a form of revenge and besides, the expression on Conrad's face told him that his point had definitely been made. Liadan belonged to Dante and Conrad would do well to take note of that fact.
A hiss escaped his lips as his attention was brought back sharply to his mate as she twisted her fingers in his short hair and pulled his head back so that he stared up at her before she bared her teeth and dipped her head to kiss him hard, pulling away before he had chance to fully respond. With a wicked smirk, she slid from his lap and got to her feet, reaching behind her for the wine glass she'd placed on the table and taking a small sip. "Would you like to retire upstairs?" She wondered, watching as he stood, anticipation darkening his eyes. "I'm hope you're going to appreciate all my hard work." Dante chuckled as he wrapped his arm round her waist, smiling down at her as she returned the gesture, all thoughts about Conrad forgotten as they began to make their way to the stairs.
"I'm sure I will."
He had most definitely appreciated her efforts, Dante mused as he lay on his side with his head propped on one hand and watching her as she dozed lightly in the nest of satin sheets and pillows that they had created. Her punishment had been simple enough; tying his wrists to the wrought iron bed posts with silk scarves before proceeding to torture him by using various implements to stimulate him including her hands and mouth, a feather and velvet glove and where she had found that flavoured body paint he had no idea, but he loved it. She had increased the pleasurable torment by refusing to allow him to respond in any way unless she specifically told him he could and even then she would stop him before he had had his fill of whatever task she had given him. Needless to say that by the time she had finally relented and moved to untie him, he'd been on the very edge of loosing control and hadn't even allowed her to undo the scarves before he ravished her, in the best sense of the word. Which explained why his wrists currently had the tattered remnants of the scarves still tied round them and also why Liadan's neck as heavily marked on both sides, never mind the hand shaped bruises on her hips and wrists. The devil in him all but purred in satisfaction at the marks on his mate that flaunted his ownership of her, while a small part of him cringed at that fact that he'd been so rough with her. His dual nature could be a real pain at times, especially when his human side gave him unnecessary grief; Liadan was neither stupid nor naïve, she knew just what that kind of prolonged teasing would do to him and she had still continued with her ministrations.
Absently, he reached out with a hand and cupped one of her breasts, the warm flesh moulding to his touch as she shifted lazily, "H'm, hello." She cracked her eyes open slightly to smile up at him as he released his hold and smooth his hand down to rest on her abdomen,
"Hello gorgeous." He smiled as she arched her back in a lazy stretch.
"Did you enjoy your punishment"? She wondered, returning his smirk with one of her own.
"I do believe that I'm going to be a bad boy more often if that's the kind of punishment you're intending to inflict on me." He informed her, "Though I get the feeling that some of the girls back at the Love Planet have been giving you tips."
"Maybe. I am capable of coming up with my own ideas though." She frowned a little. "They were positively horrified at the thought of restraining you for some reason." Dante shrugged,
"One of them suggested it once, before I met you." She raised an eyebrow quizzically, "I was a little harsher than perhaps necessary when I turned her down." He shifted down the bed a little before moving closer to her and resting his head on her chest, allowing her to wrap her arms round his shoulders. She made a very comfortable pillow and he loved it when she carded her fingers through his hair. Liadan huffed good-naturedly before giving in to his silent plea and threaded her fingers through his hair. "M'm. You're the only one I've ever allowed to tie me up." He mumbled, blue eyes half closed in pleasure as her fingernails lightly scratched his scalp.
"I'll consider myself honoured then." She chuckled at his kitten-like expression of bliss, though she'd never dream of telling him just how cute he looked. As far as Dante was concerned only little girls were cute, he most certainly was not. Dante simply huffed in response to her teasing; he was far too comfortable and sated to bother moving or even verbally retaliating. Perhaps in a little while he would consider moving, or even seeing if she was up to another bout, though it would no doubt have to be gentler than the previous one. Besides, aside from the soft thumping coming up through the floorboards from the club downstairs, it really was rather peaceful. He still wasn't impressed by a lot of wizarding attitudes, but that didn't mean that he couldn't appreciate their toys, and this Room of Requirement was pretty good. A soft yawn from Liadan indicated that she was settling down for a nap as well, something neither had really been able to indulge in since coming to the castle. He had yet to tell her of her 'friend's' involvement in the demon summoning, but he didn't really want to do anything to jeopardise the afterglow they were currently swathed in.
For her part, Liadan was well aware that he was keeping something from her; she hadn't known him for so many years not to know when he wasn't telling her something. However, it was nigh on impossible to drag information out of him if he didn't want you to know about it and she didn't really feel like arguing with him to find out what it was. Besides, she had too much to think about to worry what he was hiding, especially since he would tell her sooner or later. She had never thought she'd seen another were-beast again, never mind anyone that she had known, so to run into Conrad in Hogsmeade, of all places, had been a hell of a shock. As far as she remembered most were-beasts stayed as far away from the wizarding world as possible. She was only here willingly because Dante was with her; otherwise she wouldn't have had anything to do with the place. Conrad had seemed perfectly at ease, chatting with them and dressing like them, almost as though he was one of them, which gave her the impression that he had been venturing into this world quite regularly. That didn't seem right, after all when they were younger Conrad had been quite vocal in his opinions at getting some kind of revenge on the wizarding world for the atrocities they had committed to the were-beast community. Luckily he had gathered very few supporters, simply because most were-beasts were well aware that they were on the way to becoming rare, if not an endangered species. Humans and wizards bred so much more abundantly and easily than were-beasts; during her life a female would have usually no more than one child and though they were relatively quick to grow, compared to humans, that growth spurt slowed once they came of age. Even if the entire were-beast community got together to launch any kind of attack on the wizarding world there was nowhere near enough of them to survive such a move. They would be wiped out. So what was Conrad doing? Liadan couldn't imagine for a minute that he'd changed his views on the subject, though stranger things had happened. She supposed she could try and find out when they 'got together later', but that would mean actually meeting him and she wasn't at all sure she wanted to do that. Yes, there was the desire for a decent, in-depth debate, but now that she had been faced with her past, she realised that she really didn't want anything to do with it any more. She had found a place where she was accepted for what she was, despite the fact that she and Lady didn't really get on all that well and she had even gotten married, though she doubted Dante was the kind of man her parents would have wanted for her if they had the choice. The only thing that really marred her current happiness was the loss of their baby a few months earlier, never mind the way in which she had lost it. It might have been easier if it had been some kind of 'natural' miscarriage, but being almost beaten to death by a group of demons couldn't be called natural in anyone's book. Perhaps a small part of her blamed Dante for it; after all, she would never have ended up on Dumary Island if he hadn't chosen to leave her, believing that she would be safer without him around. The idiot.
"Stop thinking so hard." Dante's annoyed grumbled caused her to jump and stare down at the crown of his head as he nudged at her hand, trying to get her to continue petting him.
"Pardon?"
"I can almost hear the cogs in your head whirring from here." He huffed, before sighing and pulling himself back up to the top of the bed so that they were face to face. "So, what're you thinking about?" She shrugged and glanced away, fingers tugging at the comforter.
"Just wondering what to do about Conrad." The disgusted snort she received in response to that admission wasn't at all unexpected; after all it wouldn't do his ego much good to be told that his wife was thinking about another man while they were in bed together.
"Do you need to do anything about him?"
"The invitation to get together wasn't an idle one. He's going to insist on keeping it."
"So? It's not like he's been breaking his back looking for you all these years." He sounded for all the world like a petulant little boy.
"Really, Dante, anyone would think that you're jealous." She smiled gently and caught his jaw in her fingers to turn his head towards her as he growled softly. "I admit that when we were younger he made advances towards me, but I've never been interested in him." She tweaked his chin playfully, "Besides, I've got you. Why would I be interested in anyone else?"
"What a silver tongue you've got." He smirked and leaned over her as she settled back against the pillows. "How about you find some other uses for it?" He wondered, as she slid a hand round the back of his neck and another round his waist. They both ignored the sound of footsteps running up the stairs near the room, Liadan giggling into Dante's mouth as he lightly traced his fingers along her ribs up to her breast.
"Mr Dante...!" The door burst open to reveal the dark haired 'Saviour' and his two cronies. It was kind of amusing, the way the three froze in a mixture of wide-eyed amazement and embarrassment at the scene they had just walked in on.
"D'you three mind? We're kind of busy here." Dante snapped, tugging the comforter up over Liadan's chest as he pushed himself off of her while she pulled her knees up and tucked the sheet round herself. The two boys seemed to be more than a little tongue-tied after seeing Liadan half naked and simply opened and closed their mouths wordlessly, while Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed, though she pointedly kept her eyes averted from the couple sprawled on the bed.
"Professor Dumbledore asked us to come and get you." She told them, "He says that there's something important we need to discuss."
"For fuck's sake." Dante scowled and ran a hand through slightly damp hair. The old bastard had really crap timing, or really good timing, depending on your point of view. "All right, we'll be out in a few minutes." They watched as Hermione all but dragged her two friends out of the room, waiting until the door closed before they burst out into laughter.
"Do you think I'll have time to clean up?" Liadan wondered, sliding out of bed, "There's no way I can wear this dress again. You've shredded it." She pouted, sending a playful glare his direction. Dante shrugged, unrepentant,
"I'll get you a new one. We should be all right for a while with the money from this job." Neither mentioned Dante's habit of spending every last penny he earned, or the savings account that Liadan had and which he had no access to. These were subjects they had agreed to disagree on; Liadan couldn't understand his spendthrift ways and he couldn't understand her need to hoard whatever money she earned through her work at the bookstore and the odd small jobs she did by herself. He suspected that it came from living more or less hand to mouth for a good few years before meeting him and the fact that as her husband he was supposed to support her hadn't changed her habits in the slightest. Not that he was complaining, since she wasn't exactly a stereotypical wife, something for which he thanked whatever deities watched over half-devils every day. Of course he also thanked them for her presence full stop, though he'd never admit it to anyone. He was brought out of his reverie when she walked past him, arms full of her usual clothes, and paused to pointedly sniff at him.
"You could do with cleaning yourself up before we go too." She informed him as he rolled his eyes and moved to get his own clothes.
"Somehow I don't think they have quite as good senses of smell as you and I do." He muttered, trailing behind her as she went into the small bathroom that appeared as she opened a door that he could have sworn wasn't there a little while ago.
"Probably not." She agreed, "But I'm not going to be able to concentrate on anything with you smelling of sweat and sex, am I?" She ignored the slow grin that made its way over his face.
Dante sighed and ran his hand through his hair, dragging his gaze momentarily away from the sight of his wife channelling her anger through a series of katas in the grounds of the school. Leaning his head back against the cool stone of the large window of their room, he growled softly, furious both at her stubbornness and the Headmaster's interference. He should have known the old man wouldn't have appreciated his non-committal response to his demand that he promise to hand Conrad over to the Auror's for trial, but he really hadn't expected him to invade his mind in the way he had. Damn the man. He'd hoped to have been able to broach the subject with Liadan carefully and long before he mentioned it to the wizards, instead Dumbledore decided to spring the question of why Dante believed Conrad was the summoner on them more or less the moment they'd walked into the meeting. To say that Liadan had been furious was an understatement. He was grateful that she'd simply turned and walked out, after shooting him a poisonous glare.
Legilimency. His contacts had warned him about the skill and that Dumbledore was apparently very adept at it, so he had been avoiding meeting the other man's eyes wherever possible, but had been so relaxed following his 'punishment' that it hadn't even crossed his mind, until the Headmaster had opened his mouth. Fucking wizards and their superiority complex. How dare the bastard rummage round in his mind? Well, at least he wasn't going to do that again, at least not to Dante or Liadan. Dante didn't make a habit of killing humans, usually doing so only is self defence, and had taken grim satisfaction in the horror that had been in the old man's eyes when Dante had forced him to see a fraction of just what he was capable of doing. Of course, none of that changed the fact that Liadan was seriously pissed at him, or that he was just as mad at her for being so damned pigheaded. If she'd been in close contact with that side of her culture, and Conrad, then he could have understood it but from what little she'd told him about her past not one of her so-called friends or family had bothered to even try looking for her after the deaths of her parents. A small part of his mind informed him, in the pompous tones so often used by his brother, that he was jealous of the loyalty she was showing to this guy. As far as Dante could see, Conrad and the others she had left behind had no right to be receiving such devotion from her.
Liadan sighed as she lowered her hands and straightened up from the guard position she had finished her kata in. She was well aware that Dante was watching her from their room, but didn't turn to acknowledge him. How could he even think that Conrad was the person who had been summoning these demons? He had only met him for five minutes, if that, and while she could agree that the man wasn't very personable and had nothing in common with her husband, but summoning demons to kill people? He didn't even believe that such creatures existed. Dante was jealous, pure and simple and while she could understand his protectiveness over her, she couldn't understand why he would be jealous of someone she hadn't seen in years...hell, she hadn't even thought about Conrad, or the others in years, especially after meeting Dante and his colleagues and becoming immersed in their world. Heading over towards a lone tree near the lake, she curled up under its canopy, leaning against the rough bark and staring out over the water. She might have been able to tolerate his suspicions about Conrad if he'd only told her about them while they were at Hogsmeade, or even while they were in bed a few hours earlier, but it was clear that he hadn't intended to say anything to her and if the Headmaster hadn't brought it up, then it seemed obvious that she would never have known about it and that was what hurt the most. It seemed that Dante trusted the Headmaster, whom he'd warned her against, more than he did her. How else could Dumbledore have known about him suspecting Conrad's involvement with the summoning?
Of course, she ignored the fact that if the person Dante suspected hadn't been Conrad, or a were-beast, then she probably wouldn't feel as betrayed as she did. Despite her estrangement from the were-beast community in which she had lived for twenty or so years and her subconscious attempts to forget about them, a part of her still yearned for their companionship and the teachings she would have received from the elder females if she had been able to stay, even after her mother's death. There was a lot she still didn't know about that side of her heritage, the mythology, the history and the instincts that were such a large part of her personality. When she was younger, she had wanted to learn everything about the culture she was being raised in, not really caring all that much about the human side since she didn't have a great deal of contact with them. Perhaps that thirst for knowledge was driven by her need to fit in and while it had been tempered a great deal over the years, as well as through the unquestioning acceptance from Dante and his companions, it was still there, albeit heavily buried. Absently, she wondered which one of them would make the first move at reconciliation since they were both stubborn, whether they were in the right or not, and in certain cases it took a while for either of them to be the first to hold out an olive branch. Those kinds of arguments were few and far between thankfully, with their last one being a few weeks after she first moved into the shop, after she told Dante that she was going to return to work at the bookshop. That particular squabble had lasted a week or so and had only ended after he'd presented her with a beautiful red rose, though this was made out of glass and left on her bedside table on top of the job description she had thrown away during the quarrel. Neither of them were very good at coming out and saying the word 'sorry'. Biting her lower lip, she glanced up at the window, relieved to see that Dante had rested his head back against the stonework of the windowsill on which he was perched. His eyes were closed and hands tucked behind his head in the usual pose he took when he was settling down for a nap. Despite his relaxed attitude, she knew that their fight had hurt him and it really wasn't a good idea to allow a rift to develop, especially here, where all they had was each other. She was no longer angry, but still hurt from the perceived betrayal that his withholding of information and she wanted to be able to hold out the figurative olive branch without feeling the need to lash out at him again.
With a small sigh, she pushed herself to her feet and dusted off her backside and legs, sliding her daggers back into their scabbards. Perhaps a bath was in order before she attempted reconciliation; she was sweaty and grimy from the workout, though it would be her third bath in two days. It was nice to be able to soak in a hot bath occasionally, but it was much more efficient to have a shower and she missed the sensation of the massaging spray of the shower back at the shop, never mind the fact that it made washing her hair a much quicker job.
"Miss Liadan!" A normal human at this distance wouldn't have heard the hissed words, but Liadan's ears twitched as she turned to glance at the edge of the Forbidden Forest at the other side of the grounds. The wide-eyed face of the child Liadan had taken a dagger to the shoulder for peeked round the circular building that was the Gamekeeper's hut. The kernel of maternal instinct that had begun to mature and strengthen during the all-too brief months where she had pregnant responded instantly to the white faced terror displayed on the child's face as she twisted her fingers tightly in the shapeless robes she wore. Before she knew what she was doing, she was halfway across the grounds and heading towards the child. "You've got to come with me." Vicky whispered, snatching at Liadan's hand the moment she came within reach. "Please." It was quite clear that the child was terrified of something; her eyes were wide in her pale face, and she was trembling and sweating heavily.
"Okay, I'll come with you, but you've got to tell me where we're going and what's wrong."
"I can't tell you…" the girl's voice was high pitched and frantic with fear, overriding any suspicions that Liadan had regarding why she was currently being dragged towards the Forbidden Forest in favour of trying to work out a way of calming the girl down once they'd finally stopped.
"I thought students weren't allowed in the Forest?" She commented, catching her breath once the girl halted, releasing her hand almost as violently as she had grabbed it.
"I'm sorry." The girl whispered. "He made me do it." Liadan frowned,
"Who? What did he make you do?"
Dante jerked awake from his nap with the sickening feeling that something was terribly wrong with his mate. He'd only had the sensation once before; around the same time as the message came from Lucia on Dumary Island that some outlanders were poking too far into the ruins of Arius' headquarters. He hadn't known at that time that Liadan was part of the group, or that there was even a bond between them, though the almost unbearable hollow ache he had experienced during the few minutes that Liadan had been clinically dead soon enlightened him to the fact that there was definitely some kind of emotional, perhaps even spiritual, tie between them. Initially he had been annoyed at the thought that such a bonding had been formed without his express permission, simply because the idea of having someone depend on him to such an extent was a frankly daunting prospect, especially if he hadn't chosen it for himself. For most of his life, or at least since his mother's death, he had tried his damnedest to keep people at arms length. That need for emotional isolation was the reason why he had left Liadan in the first place; their 'friends with benefits' relationship had somehow developed into something much more without either of them realising. That is until on one of their trips to an out of town fight club when another man had tried seducing Liadan, primarily with the intention of throwing the fight that the pair were to be taking part in. Dante had been completely unprepared for the surge of jealousy and possessiveness that had welled up inside him at the sight of another man attempting to kiss her, with the end result being a huge free-for-all and them both being banned from the fight clubs in the area for life. That night had been the first time he'd really made love to her, rather than just having sex. It was also the night that she became pregnant, and he had decided that it was better for both of them if he put an end to the relationship. Perhaps things would have been different had he known, but then again he wasn't so sure that it would have been better if he had; however traumatic the incident at Dumary Island had been, it had also strengthened the bond between the couple. Accordingly, a recurrence of the sensation that heralded the events that had led him almost loosing her was more than a little alarming. A quick glance out the window to see that she was no longer in the grounds didn't exactly reassure him, especially since he would have known if she'd entered their room. Screw the argument; he needed to find her and ascertain for himself that she was all right and he was simply overreacting.
If he'd been paying serious attention to his surroundings, he would have been mildly amused by the way the sea of kids parted to allow him through, but he was more concerned with finding Liadan than worrying about what some wizarding brats thought of him. Her scent could still be picked up at the base of the tree where she had been seated, which meant that it hadn't been too long since she left and it gave him a trail to follow. The odd actions of the 'private investigator' standing under the tree and snuffing at the air drew even more attention from the kids who had already followed him through the school, giggling and whispering. Curling his fingers round Rebellion's hilt, he followed the familiar aroma to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. What the hell was she thinking going into that place? He cocked his head to one side in confusion. It wasn't that he was afraid that she would get hurt in there; she was more than capable of taking care of herself. She'd slaughtered demons that were stronger than any so-called 'dark creature' that had made its home in the forest, but there was no reason he could think of for her to actually go in there in the first place. However...another scent caused him to bare his teeth slightly and growl, fingers tightening round Rebellion's hilt until it squeaked in protest at its master's unusually harsh treatment. Conrad. There was no way that Liadan wouldn't have mentioned that she was going to meet him, even after the argument, so what was the bastard up to? And, more importantly, where the hell was she? The scent trail stopped a little way into the forest, far enough to be shielded from casual onlookers, but near enough to see the castle through the trees. Crouching in the small clearing, he touched the flattened grass lightly. He wasn't much of a tracker; nine times out of ten he didn't need to track his prey, since they were more likely to drop in on him unannounced and were rarely highly intelligent. He could tell that there had been at least three people stood here recently; he recognised the scents of both Liadan and Conrad, but there was another one here as well, a young, feminine aroma that he didn't recognise, though it was vaguely familiar. Whatever had happened here couldn't have good, especially considering Conrad's apparent involvement, as well as the unsettling feeling that had initially woken Dante and prompted him to try and find Liadan.
Dante sat back on his heels and huffed in annoyance, staring blankly at the flatted grass with his chin in his hands. He didn't mind not having Liadan with him all the time, but that was when he knew where she was, such as the bookstore or on a mission. Being in a strange world, one that neither of them were very comfortable with in the first place, and not knowing where she was or who she was with made him feel edgy and out of control of the situation. A slight rumble in the ground nearby brought an almost psychotic grin to his face as he pushed himself to his feet and summoned up Ifrit. The hell-fire that blazed round the greaves, hotter than lava, didn't even phase him, the backwash from the flames sending his hair whipping round him cast an eerie glow round his forearms despite the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon. It didn't help that the expression on his face was nothing short of pure, vicious glee at the thought of the melee to come. The grin only widened as the Blades exploded out from under the ground; he might not be able to beat any information out of the creatures, since they weren't even intelligent enough to be able to speak, but he sure as hell could take out his frustration on them. "C'mon, bitches, let's play."
The first thing Liadan felt as she came round was the burning throbbing at the base of her skull, which was indicative of the reason why she was actually regaining consciousness, and the second was the feeling of sheets and a bed underneath her when she was pretty sure she had been in a forest when she was attacked.
"Liadan? Are you awake?" She was unable to smother the low groan that escaped her at hearing the voice next to the bed.
"Where the hell am I? What time is it?" She gritted her teeth and pushed herself into a seated position, breathing deeply and closing her eyes until the nausea passed before swinging her legs off the bed and putting her feet on the stone floor. It had been a while since anything had clocked her hard enough to knock her unconscious and she wasn't impressed with herself for letting it happen, especially when they were in what amounted to a hostile environment. "God, my head." She hissed and jerked away at the feeling of a cold compress settling on the back of her neck. "What the...?" She snarled and arched away from the offending item, glaring at the owner of the hand holding it, before snatching it away and pressing it against the back of her head herself.
"He really did a number on you, didn't he?"
"Huh?" The oddly sympathetic, almost pitying, expression on Conrad's face was both unnerving and confusing.
"I'm guessing your partner wasn't too happy about something?" Liadan stared at the other were-beast, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Conrad sighed,
"The bruises?" He prompted. "On your neck?"
"He's not the one who just knocked me out, is he?" She retorted, becoming more and more unsettled with unfolding of the situation, and its implications. Her free hand moved down to the now empty scabbards at her thighs and the disconcerted feeling nearly blossomed into full-blown panic. "Where are my daggers?" There were a few things that she and Dante instinctively agreed on; number one being 'don't go anywhere unarmed, especially somewhere you knew nothing about'. It was easier for Dante to live by that rule, all he had to do was tuck Ebony and Ivory under his jacket, while all his other toys he could summon at will from their stands back at the shop. It wasn't so easy to hide Laisrián and Muirinn. Liadan loved her babies just as much as Dante did his guns, but they couldn't be classed as inconspicuous. Not having the pair of blades near to hand made her feel more vulnerable than if she had been naked and taking into account it was highly likely that Conrad had been the one to knock her out it didn't make her feel all warm and fuzzy, especially considering the line of questioning he was taking.
"You don't need them here; you're safe." He soothed,
"Don't fucking patronize me." She hissed, flinging the compress in his general direction. She didn't know where she was, where her weapons were or how long she'd been separated from Dante, though she suspected it was a good few hours. Her mate had to be going quietly insane about now, considering what had happened over the past couple of days. The last thing she needed was to be treated like a six year old by this coward.
"I'm not patronizing you, Lia, I just want to help you." Oh god, not again. The last time someone tried to 'help' her like this, things had ended very badly and very painfully. She hoped this wasn't going to become a regular occurrence; there was no way she was going to spend the rest of her life being kidnapped.
"If you want to help me you'll let me go back to the castle." Even though she wasn't surprised when Conrad shook his head, she wasn't happy about it. What right did he have, after all these years, to interfere in her life like this?
"I told you; I want to help you." She hadn't realised that she was speaking aloud until he answered her. "Look, he can't get to you here. He doesn't know where you are and he can't hurt you again." Liadan blinked, infuriated by the insinuation. Dante would never hurt her, the bruises they gave each other when their lovemaking became a little vigorous notwithstanding.
"Dante has never hurt me." She spat. "He's certainly never hit me hard enough to knock me unconscious, nor has he kidnapped me." Conrad flinched slightly, but shook his head.
"You can't honestly expect me to believe that you wanted him to give you those bruises."
"That is none of your business." She snapped, wincing at the spike of pain as the substantial knot on the back of her head protested the volume of her voice. "Dante is my husband and my bond-mate. Whatever else goes on between us is none of your concern." The revelation that they were bond-mates was clearly an unwelcome surprise, if the sour expression that flitted across Conrad's face was anything to go by, though why he should feel so strongly about it was beyond her. Conrad had never been one to get emotionally involved with things and even less likely to show if he had been affected. She sighed and deflated a little; it was probably the remnants of her anger at Dante more than anything else that had fuelled this little spat. "Look, Conrad, it's been nearly a decade since we last spoke to each other. Things have changed, we've changed. I don't expect you to know the complexities of my relationship with Dante, but you have to understand that I love him and he loves me; he's just not demonstrative, at least in front of people we don't know."
"I never thought you'd turn out to be one of those women, Lia." Conrad sighed and shook his head, the condescending tone returning to his voice as he tried to hide a small smirk.
"Excuse me? One of what women?"
"You know, the kind who make excuses for their sleazy husbands." Liadan felt her jaw drop and anger bubble back up inside her at the insult.
"That's enough. I'm not listening to this any more" She moved towards the closed door behind Conrad, glaring up at him when he moved to block her path. "Whatever sick game you're playing, I'm not interested." She hissed, preparing to shoulder past the taller man.
"I'm sorry, Lia, but I can't let you go back." Conrad rested a hand on her shoulder, fingers tightening warningly, reminding her that as a full blood were-beast he was a lot stronger than she was. In a trial of strength, Liadan was well aware that she was nowhere near as strong as a full blood, especially one from the Ursine or bear clan.
"I didn't realise that it was your decision." She retorted, pulling her shoulder away, though she didn't move any further forwards.
"Until you come to your senses it is. Besides, the girl who lured you into the forest?" Liadan glanced up at him questioningly, her heart sinking. "I got to her once, to...persuade her to bring you to me. What makes you think that I can't get to her again?"
"You wouldn't...she's just a child!" Liadan shivered inwardly at the coldness in Conrad's glass green eyes as he stared calmly at her.
"There are more important things at stake here than one child's life, Lia."
"That's where we disagree, but you already knew that, or else you wouldn't have used it as threat to keep me here." She resisted the urge to slap the small smile off his face as he inclined his head in acknowledgement. For the moment it was a better idea to keep on his good side until she got to know more about what was going on that was so important. She honestly didn't believe that she was the main reason for all this, which only added to the horrible realisation that perhaps Dante was right to suspect Conrad of being the summoner after all.
"I'll send some food up for you." He told her, moving towards the door. "I suggest you get comfortable. You could be here quite a while." Pride kept her on her feet, at least until he had closed and locked the heavy oak door and his footsteps had echoed down the stone corridor. Once she was sure that he was out of earshot, she allowed her knees to buckle and all but collapsed onto the bed with her head in her hands.
Dante huffed in annoyance, heading over to the window of the room, staring blindly out over the grounds where he had last seen his mate. If he had his way, he'd have levelled that damned forest by now looking for her, but he had to keep an eye on the castle in case there were any more attacks. He'd had no choice but to tell Dumbledore that Liadan was missing, as well as who it was he suspected had taken her, though he had said nothing about the other person who had been there. The Blades that had attacked him just after he found the clearing she had been taken from had barely taken the edge off his frustration and he was now left pacing while Dumbledore and his cronies tried to find out whatever they could about Conrad. Why did everything have to be so complicated? He'd never had any patience for complex machinations, even when he was younger; that had always been more Vergil's thing. In Dante's experience there were very few problems that couldn't be solved through direct action, not that he was incapable of subtlety when the situation called for it; he just didn't see the point in wasting time and energy manipulating people and situations when there were other ways to do it.
"Stop dawdling in the doorway, kid. If you wanna come in, shut the door behind you. If not, get out and don't let it hit you on the ass on the way." Dante was usually quite a patient man, but not knowing where Liadan was, what was happening to her and being unable to go after her was grating on his nerves and he was in no mood for playing games. The kid and his little friends had been huddled outside the slightly open door for a good few minutes now, and Dante was tired of waiting to see if they'd come in of their own volition. He turned to lean back against the window frame as the kids came in, closing the door behind them. "Well?" He folded his arms across his chest and crossed one leg over the other, waiting for one of the kids to speak.
"We wanted to ask you about Sparda." The girl's chin was tilted defiantly up, as though daring him to mention that they had to have been eavesdropping in order to know about his connection with the 'Legendary Dark Knight'.
"What about him?" The trio glanced at each other, clearly surprised that he hadn't put up much of a fight to protect the knowledge they assumed he didn't want all and sundry to know. Dante smirked inwardly; once he'd accepted his father's legacy, then he'd never denied that he was Sparda's son. Besides, as he had said to Liadan, not many humans even knew that Sparda had existed outside of ancient legends so it wasn't as though he'd be gaining anything by advertising his heritage.
"Well, he's your father…"
"And?" He grinned wickedly at their exasperated expressions; just because he wasn't going to deny it, that didn't mean that he couldn't make them work for it. Besides, it took his mind off of wondering where Liadan was.
"Are the legends really true? Did he really seal away the Emperor of Hell?" Hermione wondered, eagerly settling onto the couch. Dante shrugged,
"I guess so. Everyone says that he did."
"Don't you know?"
"I wasn't there."
"But, surely you wanted to know. I mean…he's your dad…" Dante glared at Harry.
"He might have been my father, but I was angry at him for a long time." Even now, he didn't feel comfortable with people asking about Sparda, mostly because a small part of him did still hate the man. The things that had happened at Temen-ni-gru might have helped him begin to come terms with the burden left on him by his father, but a small part of him still hated him for leaving, an action which Dante had always believed led to his mother's death and the beginning of Vergil's megalomania. For a long time after Eva's death, after he reverted back to using his true name rather than the 'Tony Redgrave' pseudonym, he had fantasised about what life might have been like had his father stayed with the family. Lately though those fantasies had begun to fade, tempered by the reality of his life with Liadan and his friends. It was highly unlikely that he would even have met the woman who was now his wife if his father had stayed with the family and even less likely that they would be together now. However, none of this was the business of any witch or wizard, no matter who they were.
"But, surely you want to know more about him…" Dante shrugged,
"Mom always said that he fought for the weak, that he had courage and a righteous heart." He unintentionally paraphrased the words he had spoken to Trish back on Mallet Island, but he didn't add that he also knew that Sparda had loved Eva, and his children. "He wasn't perfect, but he was my father and that's all I need to know. All this crap about what he did or didn't do means nothing if you don't understand what type of person he was." He waved at the books that Hermione held. "The things he did…he did them because he felt they were the right things to do, not because he'd been told that was what he had to do." He snorted, "No way would any pure blood demon have even dreamed of turning on Mundus for the sake of a few pathetic humans."
"Then, why are you refusing to give Professor Dumbledore your word that you'll bring this Conrad person in alive if he does turn out to be one who's been summoning the demons?" Hermione demanded. "That's the right thing to do, surely."
"By whose standards?" She blinked at the unexpected question. "Human?"
"Well, yes…"
"Why? The guy's not a wizard, so why should he come under your laws? He's messing about in the demon world, so shouldn't that mean he comes under their laws?" Not that the demon world had any real laws aside from the 'might is right' rule, but these kids didn't need to know that.
"But he's human!" She protested.
"No, he isn't." Dante snickered at the astounded expressions on the faces of the three teens.
"What is he, then?"
"He's a were-beast." Hermione frowned,
"There's no such thing as a were-beast. You must be talking about animagi."
"Just like there's no such thing as demons?" Dante snorted in disdain. "Considering what your lot did to the were-beast community I'm not surprised they've kept quiet. Using an entire race of people for medical experiments against their will isn't the sort of thing people want their kids to know about." The reactions of the teens were quite amusing; Hermione paled and shook her head in denial, whereas Ron glared at him angrily, his hand even inching towards his wand before Harry stopped him, shaking his head. The 'Boy Who Lived' shook his head at his friend, then glanced back towards the half-devil curiously. Perhaps there was some sense in the kid after all.
"You can't seriously be suggesting that wizards created werewolves?" Hermione whispered hoarsely.
"Where do you think werewolves came from? You think they evolved by themselves?" She was quick on the uptake, he had to admit, though her naiveté and fervent belief in whatever was written down being the truth didn't do her any favours. Perhaps it was a lack of life experience, but the whole blindly believing what she read or was told by her teachers was kind of annoying.
"Why not? 'Cause humans wouldn't do such an awful thing? Wizards wouldn't do something like that?" He scoffed, "Don't make me laugh; humans can be worse than any demon." He turned to look out over the forest again, but not before he saw the clearly disbelieving expressions on their faces. What did it matter whether they believed what he said? As soon as he got Liadan back, they were out of there, after making sure Conrad was dead. This was one time Dante was bound and determined to go against his wife's wishes if need be; even if he hadn't kidnapped her, he was still too dangerous to be allowed to live. He knew how to summon demons and if he was allowed to continue to research he might discover Temen-ni-gru, or do something equally dangerous, such as telling the Wizengamot more about the demon world and the were-beast clans, which had the potential to put both himself and Liadan at risk.
"Why do you protect them, then?" Harry's voice was curious. "Dumbledore said that you won't kill humans, that you protect them from demons. If they can be worse than demons, why do you risk your life for them?" Dante shrugged,
"Because they can also be more virtuous than any angel." It wasn't the whole truth and perhaps if he were honest with himself he'd say that he wasn't at all sure why he defended humans at times. Was it because of his mother, or their innocence, or certain individuals' ability to overcome amazing odds? Lady certainly fascinated him; she was only a human and yet she had fought her way through a large part of Temen-ni-Gru against demons of the worst kind in order to avenge her mother, and then gone on to attempt to console him over the loss of his brother. Humans were odd like that, capable of both extreme brutality and at the same time immense compassion. Demons did have emotions, but a lot of the time they were instinctive, such as the need he had to claim Liadan as his mate. Demons didn't understand the concept of love, most of them deriding the emotion as being soft and worthless, a tradition which made Sparda's betrayal and love for both humanity and Eva something that was almost unique and confusing to the rest of his people.
It had to be nearly time for dinner by now, Dante mused, ignoring the whispered conversation that was taking place behind him. His fingers itched to pick up Rebellion and plough through the forest, looking for Liadan or at the least hoping for some kind of demon with which to take his mind off of wondering what was happening to her. Perhaps the worst thing about the situation was that he'd not felt anything from her since the premonition that had woken him in the first place, apart from a general feeling that she was still relatively near to him, not that he had expected to. From what little she had told him about the bond, it was more a companionship thing rather than a telepathic/empathic thing; experiences such as the one that had woken him were considered the exception rather than the norm. However, it was a double-edged sword, since not knowing what state she was in, both physically and emotionally, was proving more stressful on him than he had imagined it would. It was a little unsettling, realising just how much influence she had over him and his own mental and emotional states and something they were both going to have to adapt to in order for it not to have a detrimental effect on their business.
Liadan snuffled, rubbing at gritty eyes and grimacing at the feel of the pillow under her cheek, damp with tears and other bodily fluids after she had cried herself into a fitful sleep. She had no idea how long she'd been stuck in the room since Conrad had knocked her out; there was neither a window nor clock in the room and she'd never been very good at estimating the passage of time. She assumed it was a good few hours, since there was a tray of food on the table next to the bed, though it was now cold. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and had begun to loosen her now tatty braids in order to try and tame them into some kind of order when the heavy wooden door opened.
"Good morning, Liadan." Conrad was much too chirpy, especially if it was morning. Liadan scowled in his direction and continued carding her fingers through her hair in an attempt to detangle the mass.
"If you can call being kidnapped and held against your will 'good', then it's a wonderful morning." She retorted, ignoring the disappointed glance he cast towards the untouched plate of food, as well as the plate of fruit and coffee he had on the tray he was carrying. He sighed and placed the tray on a small desk at one side of the room.
"I'm only trying to help you."
"I don't need your help." She snapped, "How many times do I have to say it? Dante doesn't abuse me either physically or verbally and I'm happier with him than I ever really was when I was with the clan." She hadn't realised how true the statement was until she said it. When she had been with the clan there had always been the unspoken knowledge that she was a half-breed, even within her own family. Her mother and father hadn't cared, but she sometimes saw it in her grandparents' eyes when she was unable to do something as easily as a full blood could, never mind the 'teasing' she received from her peers. Dante did tease her mercilessly at times, but there was never any malice to it and he would never dream of hurting her, either physically or emotionally, at least not on purpose.
"Please, listen to me Lia." Conrad took a seat next to her on the bed, a pleading tone in his voice and on his face. "That's just the bond talking. I can't believe that a woman like you would lower yourself to marry a Neanderthal like him. He's so far below your level that you shouldn't even be in the same vicinity as him. But, never mind that…" he added, hastily as he noticed her stiffen at his words. "I wanted to talk to you about something else, something much more important than that man."
"I'm listening." The words were forced out through gritted teeth, but he seemed to pay no heed to the way they were spoken.
"I've found a way to punish the wizarding world for what they did to us all those years ago." That comment caught her attention and she turned to look at her old friend. Conrad nodded, almost excited at the attention, which only increased as he proceeded to tell her about how he had managed to inveigle his way into the inner circle of Lord Voldemort and how he had tried again to garner supporters within the were-beast community itself. Once again, his attempts had failed, but he was convinced that it was only a matter of time before they came round to his way of thinking, especially with his new discovery. Liadan felt her heart sink at those words,
"Discovery?" He nodded, eyes wide and feverish in the manner she recalled from when he was caught up in researching something, or when he was waxing lyrical about something he was passionate about.
"Yes. Liadan, did you know that demons exist? Powerful demons, that a person can summon and control to do whatever they want them to." For a long few moments, Liadan could do nothing but stare at the man sat across from her. It was a strange and very unsettling sensation, realising that she had no idea who this person was that she was sat with, and that she had never really known him, despite their past as 'friends'. The realisation that Dante's suspicions regarding Conrad were more accurate than her own assumptions about him, which had been created over the better part of two decades, was a bitter pill to swallow. It also meant that she had no idea of how to react to this 'new' Conrad. "I've taught myself how to summon and control these demons. Magic doesn't work on these things; think about it Lia, we could show these wizards that they're not at the top of the food chain any more."
"We?" Her voice was more than a little shaky, though it seemed that Conrad barely noticed her reaction, instead nodding in answer to her one word question.
"Even though you're a half-breed, you're stronger than some full blood were-beasts. With you by my side and control over these demons, I could not only destroy the wizarding world, but also gain control over the were-beast community. We could have revenge against those who abused our people and at the same time ensure that it would never happen again." Liadan shook her head in silent disbelief. She may not like the wizarding world, but she didn't want it destroyed; the people she had met during her time here were by and large 'normal' people; they hadn't taken part in the experiments that had created werewolves and it was highly doubtful that many even knew that it had even happened. As far as she was concerned the things that Conrad was offering was nothing more than them stooping to the same levels that the wizards had done all those years ago, and it wouldn't make the were-beast community any better than the wizards who had carried out the 'experiments'.
"Dante..." The word escaped Liadan's lips unintentionally, and she had no real idea why she said it. It could have been a plea or a warning, she wasn't sure.
"He won't be able to stop us; he's just another human. Once he's broken the bond between you, we can use Voldemort and his little Death Eaters to subdue the wizarding world, before we use the demons I can summon to destroy them all." Liadan stared, horrified by the realisation that Conrad believed every word he was saying; he intended to wipe out the wizarding race, to commit genocide on a scale that she was unable to even comprehend. Of course, Dante wouldn't allow him to summon enough demons to follow through with the threat, but the fact that Conrad had even come up with the idea in the first place horrified her. The fact that he assumed she would willingly carry out his insane project made her feel ill.
"You can't be serious. Conrad, please think about this." She pleaded, "Dante will kill you if you summon any more demons..." He snorted and shook his head, waiving away her words carelessly.
"He's no threat to us. He's human, however physically skilled he is with his weapons. You're still affected by the mating bond, but it shouldn't be too long before that's in the past and you can mate with someone much more worthy of you." Liadan pushed herself to her feet and backed away, a sickening coldness settling in the pit of her stomach.
"What are you talking about?" She whispered, unconsciously twisting her wedding ring round her finger.
"Your husband will be receiving a letter this morning, informing him that he must break the bond between you, otherwise I will have Hogsmeade and Hogwarts demolished and everyone found there killed." If Liadan had any hope that Conrad had any grip on reality left, the information he'd just imparted to her quashed it completely. It was well known in the were-beast community that the ties between bond mates couldn't be broken on a whim, if at all. Bonding was the most sacred and precious tie between a couple for many reasons, one of which was that it was nigh on impossible to break. It was a double edged sword for that same reason; many times when one mate died the other found it very difficult to carry on without their partner. Liadan wasn't sure what would happen between herself and Dante due to the human and demon influences that would affect the bonding; after all, she hadn't even known that it was possible for a half-breed such as herself to even be able to bond with anyone else, never mind a half blood demon. Besides, even if it were possible to break the bond, Dante wouldn't have the first idea of how to do it. He hadn't even known that such a thing existed until Liadan told him about it, after his reaction to another man attempting to seduce her. At that point in their relationship they had thought of themselves as 'friends with benefits' and not lovers, and it wasn't until his declaration that she belonged to him and no one else that she had realised what had happened.
"You know that it's impossible for him to do that."
"Don't be silly. Anything that can be created can also be destroyed; it's the way of the everything in this world."
"And if he doesn't want to?" Conrad shrugged,
"If he doesn't, then you will." The certainty in his voice shook Liadan out of her shock; if she didn't know Conrad's real character, then it was possible that he had misread her as well, especially if he thought she was going to relinquish the relationship she had with her husband so easily. "Though, perhaps you're right and he doesn't know how to break it." He glanced across to where she had moved, putting the small table between them as a kind of barrier. Liadan shook her head,
"I'm not breaking my bond with my husband."
"Not even for the lives of those people at the school and Hogsmeade?" Conrad smirked, "You always did have a bit of a selfish streak in you. All those lives for one human, and he's not even worthy of your bloodline." Liadan snarled,
"You know nothing about him. If you did, you'd be running as fast as you could." She felt no friendship towards this man; he'd threatened innocent people for revenge, kidnapped her and wanted to take away the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her horror at Conrad's insane plan had been replaced by anger, and she was damned if she was going to let him try and put it into operation.
"You're being very stubborn, little one." He chuckled, pushing himself to his feet.
"Don't call me that!" She snapped, taking an involuntary step back as he straightened to his full height.
"Why not? You didn't mind when we were younger."
"That was when we were younger. I'm not that kid any more." Conrad's smile sharpened, bearing his teeth.
"I can see that. You've grown up, little one." Liadan's eyes widened, as she caught the scent of his arousal. "You must like it rough now, h'm? That's the real reason why you've got all those bruises, isn't it?"
"What? You're insane." A light blush highlighted her cheeks, despite the situation. After all, she and Dante did get a little rough at times.
"Am I? You're the one blushing." He licked his lips, "Perhaps that's what I need to do to break the bond. If it's based on sex, then another man mating with you physically would theoretically break the bond with your previous mate and transfer it to me." She blanched at both the implication and the glitter in his eyes. The silent standoff lasted only a few seconds, though it felt like years to the half-breed. She knew that Conrad was wrong in his assumptions and the bond wasn't based solely on sex; after all if that was it took to created it, she would have bonded with quite a few men during the last few years, but from the expression on his face it was clear that he wasn't in any mood to believe a word she said. The only chance she had now to escape whatever it was he had in mind was to rely on the training Dante had given her, as well as her own innate skills. The Ursine clan were generally quick, but with more emphasis on strength, while Liadan's heritage made her fast on her feet. Hopefully the experience she had had in dodging the even quicker and stronger Dante in their training sessions would give her an edge that Conrad wouldn't expect.
Dante blinked as an owl landed in front of him, looking up at him from the table and holding its leg out to him expectantly. "You sure you got the right guy?" He wondered, tilting his head to one side curiously. The owl seemed to roll its eyes impatiently and shook the leg that had the roll of parchment attached to it. "All right already." He reached out and tugged the scrap of thick paper from its leg before absently offering the bird a scrap of bacon rind from his plate, turning his attention fully on the note he now held. Seconds later, he strode from the Great Hall, leaving the note on the table and heading towards the forest. His suspicions regarding Liadan's disappearance had just been proven correct, but he wasn't exactly happy about it. Conrad Mackenzie had kidnapped Liadan and was now demanding that Dante sever the bond between them or he would summon as many demons as it took in order to destroy both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, and slaughter every man, woman and child found within those places as well. Including Dante himself. It was obvious that the idiot had no idea of whom he was actually threatening, or that in summoning as many demons as he threatened he was likely to end up loosing control and having them turn on him. Dante was half inclined to let that happen; it would be a wonderfully ironic way for the bastard to die, but it would cost too many lives for that to be a practical option. Besides, the only reason that he could imagine for Conrad to want the bond between Dante and Liadan breaking was to enable him to replace Dante as Liadan's mate. It was that intention that Dante couldn't stomach, that made him want to punish the were-beast with his own hands, to show him just who he was messing with and whose wife he was threatening to steal. Damn whatever Dumbledore and the wizarding world wanted, Conrad had made this job personal.
"Mr Dante!" McGonagall's voice caused the devil hunter to stop just outside the forest, near to the Gamekeeper's hut. "What do you think you are doing?"
"My job. I'm going to find the summoner of those demons. That is what you hired me for, isn't it?"
"So it has nothing to do with this note?" She waved the parchment at him as he turned to look at her, a cold smirk on his face.
"You really shouldn't read other people's mail, Minnie." She ignored his jibe,
"You can't seriously be considering sacrificing all these people for this bond with your colleague." Dante snorted,
"This has got nothing to do with you lot. This is between Conrad and me now." McGonagall stopped in her tracks and frowned.
"Of course it's got something to do with us; he's threatening to unleash these bloodthirsty creatures on the school." Dante shook his head and folded his arms over his chest.
"That's secondary to what he really wants. First and foremost he wants to break the bond between me and my wife." The Deputy Headmistress blinked, and the gathered crowd whispered amongst themselves. Ever since the pair had shown up at Hogwarts, it had been rumoured that they were lovers, but there had been nothing concrete to prove the assumption.
"What? Why?" Dante shrugged,
"I don't know." He honestly didn't care why Conrad wanted Liadan. All that mattered was the fact that he did and the longer Dante stood here shooting the breeze with McGonagall, the longer he had her. McGonagall pinched the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb.
"Regardless of what this man wants, how do you expect to find her?" She wondered, "We've already searched the grounds and Hogsmeade, and Hagrid has been searching the forest since last night."
"Simple. I'm going to raze the Forbidden Forest to the ground." Dante grinned at the shocked intake of breath that echoed round him, and the way that McGonagall gaped momentarily at him.
"Raze the...for Merlin's sake, you don't even know that she's there!" It was incomprehensible to the older witch that this man was even considering destroying the ancient forest in a search that wasn't even guaranteed to bear fruit. It was bad enough that this Conrad person was threatened to unleash untold numbers of demons on Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, but for the man who was supposed to be protecting them to effectively turn his back on them in order to pursue a wild goose chase that could quite easily end in the threat becoming reality was an act that she really couldn't understand or condone. Dante turned to stare out over the dark forest again.
"She's in there. I know it." The flatness of his voice and the tightening of his jaw reminded McGonagall of the threat he had made the day before, towards herself and Madam Pomfrey and she was once again struck by the notion that this man was something out of the ordinary, even in the wizarding world. She opened her mouth to speak, even though she wasn't at all certain what she could say to dissuade him from his chosen course of action, when an awful, eerie sound echoed from the depths of the forest. Dante stepped away from McGonagall, fingers wrapping round the hilt of Rebellion as he did so, eyes scanning the forest. That was no animal howl, or even werewolf howl, nor did it sound like Liadan when she was transformed. Moments later, two huge white blurs burst out from the foliage of the forest, galloping round him with a series of loud barks and yips before settling down in front of him. Now, Dante knew that he couldn't claim to be a connoisseur of species of dog and yet he could swear that he had never seen an animal that looked like these two; they were similar to an Irish Wolfhound in appearance, though with short smooth hair rather than the coarse coat of those particular dogs, but they were much bigger than any Wolfhound in existence; almost as large a small pony. Their coats were almost completely white in colour, aside from their burnished red ears and bright blue eyes. Despite the fact that he'd never laid eyes on these creatures before, they had an aura round them that was painfully familiar. " Laisrián? Muirinn?" The hounds' tails thumped the ground loudly, barking happily at Dante's recognition of them. "Can you take me to your mistress?" He almost laughed aloud at the indignant looks he received at the question. "Well, what are you waiting for?!"
Liadan had long since morphed into her were-beast form, after having ducked away from Conrad's initial lunge and fleeing through the unlocked door of the room she had been caged in overnight. She had almost been unable to believe her luck with the handle turned and the door opened; Conrad had seriously underestimated her or perhaps overestimated his hold over her, when he left the door unlocked. However, he had recovered remarkably quickly and dove after her with an enthusiasm that quite frankly frightened her. Whether he understood that she had no intentions of submitting to his desire and was simply trying to escape she had no idea, but the thought that he believed this to be some kind of 'playing hard to get' made her nauseas.
She had heard plenty of horror stories about violent boyfriends or clients from some of her girlfriends at the Love Planet, as well as tales of drugs being dropped into drinks, but like many women she had never imagined that something would happen to her. While she couldn't exactly be described as being an innocent when it came to sex, it had always been on her terms. Any unwanted suitors were easily rebuffed by a small show of strength, or by the threat of Dante coming after them. They had all been human, though, not a full-blood were-beast who was easily stronger than she was and more than capable of physically forcing her to bend to his wishes. There was also the fact that Conrad didn't know who Dante was, either by reputation or that he was Sparda's son, so that threat had no leverage whatsoever and since she doubted that she would be able to defeat her old friend in a straight confrontation, especially with her daggers somehow responding to her pleas for help by the quite unexpected means of transforming into two huge hounds and darting off in search of her mate, the only real chance she had was to outrun him through what she now recognised as the Forbidden Forest. In a perverse way she was grateful for the revelation; it meant that she was closer to Dante than she had initially assumed, and the closely growing trees and undergrowth gave her a slight advantage over her pursuer, though it wouldn't account for much should they get on open ground. As it was, she darted through narrow gaps, under huge fallen trees and made sharp twists and turns in her course at every opportunity. Her boots were lost when she shifted forms, her human legs taking on the appearance and innate strength of haunches, stubby claws and pads giving her traction and control where her heels could have crippled her. Her senses were stretched to the limit, newly formed fox-like ears and muzzle straining to locate her pursuer as well as pick up any indication that she was getting close to the castle or Dante, whichever came first. Unfortunately, in her haste to get away she hadn't taken into account the fact that she hadn't eaten in nearly twenty-four hours and was rapidly using up her stores of energy, causing her to stumble as her muscles burned and ached at the lack of sustenance.
A strangled scream escaped her throat as Conrad's fingers wrapped round her ankle, her body twisting as she fell so that she landed hard on her back, her head slamming against the ground and bringing stars dancing into her vision and knocking the air out of her lungs momentarily, allowing Conrad to all but climb up her body, an insane grin splitting his face as he panted.
"That was quite the dance you led me, little bitch." He growled, licking his lips as he pushed his knee between her thighs, pulling her knees apart with his hands. "However, I think it's my turn for a little fun." Shaking the fuzziness from her head, Liadan snarled and lashed out with a clawed hand, snapping his head to one side and leaving deep, bloody gouges in his cheek. Seconds later, her teeth rattled from a slap round her face, whipping her head round and allowing him to pin her wrists above her head with one hand before she was able to regain her wits. The adrenalin rush that had kept her on her feet as long she had been faded as she realised that she was effectively trapped, unable to move without Conrad's permission; her legs were all but useless, pinned apart by his hips as he pressed against her and her wrists gripped tightly in his hand. The realisation that she was completely helpless and about to be taken against her will in a misguided attempt to separate her from her husband, engendered a despair in her that she hadn't felt since the first few days after she miscarried her baby on Dumary Island and she moaned in emotional and physical agony.
"Dante..." The whimpered plea was cut off by a hand fastening round her jaw, dragging her head back round so that she was forced to look up at Conrad, who snarled,
"You'll be moaning my name after I'm done with you." He promised, lowering his head as though to kiss her. Liadan screwed her eyes shut, trying vainly to twist her head free of his hand.
" Laisrián! Muirinn!" Dante's yell was closely followed by Conrad's weight disappearing, his hand wrenched from her jaw and round her wrists and the momentarily soft brush of the fur of her daggers' canine forms as they slammed into the were-beast on top of her, pushing him off of her and sending him back to the edge of the clearing. Despite her newfound freedom, all she could do was roll onto one side, curling into a protective ball as her body shook, whimpering in a mixture of terror and relief.
Dante gave up any pretence at being calm when he and the hounds entered the clearing in time to hear Liadan whimpering his name. The sight of Conrad pinning Liadan to the ground, in a violent attempt to mate with her, caused his demonic side to howl in rage even as her hounds bolted forwards to protect their mistress. For the moment however, he ignored the were-beast currently being harassed by the dogs, choosing instead to go to Liadan and gathering her into his arms as she clutched at him round his waist. She buried her face against his abdomen as he cradled her upper body on his lap, crooning into her hair as she trembled and curled her knees round his back, trying to get as close to him as possible. "A grà, a muirnín." My love, my sweetheart. Liadan clung tighter to him at his use of the endearments and feather-light touches of his lips as he kissed her hair and rocked her slightly. The simple fact that he had spoken those words told her how worried he had been and still was; the closest he usually came to a term of endearment was calling her 'woman'.
"A fear céile..." Dante winced as Liadan sobbed 'my husband' in broken gasps against him. What the hell was Conrad thinking? If Dante had had any idea that the bastard would do this to someone he called a friend... Not that it mattered now; he wasn't going to live long enough to do it to another woman. He glanced up from his petting of his distraught wife long enough to register the appearance of McGonagall, Snape and the 'Golden Trio', as well where Laisrián and Muirinn were facing off against Conrad. The presence of the wizards barely interested him; if they wanted to be nosy then on their own heads be it if they saw something unpleasant.
"Bean chéile," she glanced up from the cocoon of his arms, no longer shaking, but still clearly terrified that Conrad was going to finish what he started. The sight of such fear in her renewed his anger against the were-beast who had dared to touch her; Dante had sworn to himself that he would never again see that look in her eyes and yet here it was, barely months after they had left Dumary Island behind. He forced his anger down when she winced, "I've got to leave you for a few minutes." He murmured softly, smoothing a hand over her hair. For a few moments, Liadan stared up at him silently. They both knew what he meant; he planned to kill Conrad, though whether that had been his intentions all along, or whether the situation as it was now prompted him to such actions, Liadan didn't know. What she did know was that she wasn't going to attempt to stop him from doing it, not that she was in any shape to even try stopping him physically. She wanted Conrad to hurt, even more than she had wanted Dante to share in her pain a few days earlier back at the office. With Dante she had wanted him to understand how she felt, but with Conrad she just wanted to see him suffer, to get revenge for what he had done to her; for making her feel helpless and violated, even though he'd not managed to complete the act he intended. Despite that, she didn't want to let go of him, to loose the security his warmth and presence afforded her. Somehow it seemed as though he read her mind and gave her a small, pained smile before he removed Rebellion from his back and shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it round her shoulders. She snuggled into the warm leather instinctively, burying her nose in the folds of material in an almost childlike manner. Indeed, if it weren't for the livid bruising on the side of her face and jaw where Conrad had abused her, Dante could almost believe that she was simply playing the innocent. "Call your hounds, sweetheart." He cupped the uninjured side of her face in his hand. "I'll take care of Conrad." He rested his forehead against hers momentarily, before pushing himself to his feet and turning towards the were-beast who was now glaring in their direction. Much to Dante's satisfaction the hounds hadn't hurt him, being more interested in keeping him at bay from their mistress since Dante, as their master through his marriage to Liadan, was the senior and the right to kill anyone that threatened her was his.
"So, the Neanderthal speaks." Conrad sneered, wincing at the tug on the gashes in his cheek.
"I'd rather be a Neanderthal than a common rapist." Dante retorted. "I'll bet your Momma's real proud of you; summoning demons to kill defenceless kids and trying to force yourself onto married women." He paused and idly stuck his hands in his pockets, casually glancing round the clearing. "I might have let you live if all you'd done was summon a couple of minor demons. Anyone can make a mistake after all, but you had to go and try take something that didn't belong to you."
"Liadan doesn't belong to you, human." Conrad snarled, furious at the way Dante simply smirked,
"Sure she does. She's my lover, my wife and the mother of my child. I'd say that means she belongs to me." The pole-axed expression on the other man's face was quickly replaced by one of disbelief.
"You're lying." Dante shrugged,
"I don't care whether you believe me or not; you're going to die either way."
Liadan hugged Dante's jacket closer round her, savouring the warmth left by his body and the scent that still clung to the leather, only partly paying any attention to the fight going on only a short distance away from her; Conrad was a dead man walking as far as she was concerned and, despite the need she had for him to be punished, she had no desire to actually see his demise, especially considering the fact that Dante seemed determined to repay him threefold for the physical pain he had bestowed upon her. Besides all that, Dante's seemingly carefree declaration to all and sundry that not only was she his wife, but also the mother of his child was all but the last straw for her battered emotional defences. He hadn't given her the slightest indication that he acknowledged their lost baby, other than how it had affected her, so to hear him proclaim it so easily wasn't something she could initially bring herself to believe. Laisrián and Muirinn flanked her protectively, watching their master as he avenged their mistress; ready to defend her again in the unlikely event that Dante was defeated. Not that there was any need; Liadan was sure that Dante had never met an adversary since Temen-ni-gru that he'd not defeated. The Emperor of Hell, a King of Hell, his own twin brother and many more demons had fallen before her husband's skill and power. A single were-beast, no matter how strong or skilled, stood no chance against him and while Conrad certainly was powerful, he was nowhere near as competent in combat. Liadan watched, with detached indifference as Conrad attempted to defend himself against a stronger and more skilled opponent.
Dante didn't move as Conrad flung himself forwards with a snarl. It was child's play to grasp the thin, elegant wrist as the dark haired were-beast threw a wild punch in his direction. A sharp twist as he stepped to one side and he was rewarded with a sickening crunch and a high-pitched scream as the bones in Conrad's forearm snapped. Without releasing his hold on the damaged limb, he pulled the struggling man back towards him.
Conrad couldn't help the gasp of pain that escaped him as the white haired man drove a knee deep into his ribcage, the bones all but shattering from the blow. How was this even possible? A human was nowhere near as strong as a were-beast, no matter how much training they put themselves through it simply wasn't physically feasible. Conrad hadn't put much stock in Liadan's declaration that if he knew what her husband really was then he wouldn't go up against him, but perhaps there was something more to what she said than just blind devotion. A right hook to the side of his face drove the were-beast to his knees, his ribs screaming with every grating breath he took and his right arm hanging uselessly by his side. The bitter, metallic taste of his own blood flooding his mouth caused him to gag momentarily, turning to spit the liquid out before glaring up at his assailant.
"What are you? You're not human." Dante gazed impassively down at the kneeling figure in front of him, giving the outward impression of childlike curiosity, despite the violence he had just displayed.
"I never claimed to be." He crouched down in front of the other man, resting his forearms casually on his knees. Despite the other man's bravado, he hadn't posed all that much of a challenge. "I can't believe how little research you've done, considering the fact that Lia thought you were some kind of scholar. Seriously man, you start summoning demons without trying to find out anything about them? How stupid can you be?" Despite his injuries Conrad snarled, rather an impressive sight, considering the blood bubbling through his lips.
"What would you know about it?" Dante grinned, wolfishly, showing off teeth that belonged to no human and allowed his eyes to glow a little.
"You just said that I wasn't human." Dante shrugged carelessly, "You didn't really think Liadan would bond with someone weaker than her, did you?"
"You're a half-breed?"
"Just like Lia. Pity that you don't think all that much about half-breeds, isn't it? All you wanted her for was the daggers, wasn't it?" Dante didn't know all that much about what her daggers were capable of, but he was aware that they were powerful and that they were passed down through the maternal line of Liadan's family. The only reason he had any control whatsoever over Laisrián and Muirinn was because they had accepted him as Liadan's mate. "You couldn't give a fuck about her otherwise, am I right?" Conrad didn't answer, but really, there was no need for him to do so. Dante snorted in disgust, "I would do anything for that woman and that's why she's my mate, not yours. That's why Laisrián and Muirinn obey me and why they attacked you." He moved to one side slightly as Conrad lunged at him, "Give it up." He advised, pushing himself to his feet as Conrad sprawled on the grass, clutching as his ribs. "You're no match for me." It was true; Dante hadn't even broken a sweat during the rather one-sided 'fight'.
"I'm not going to just lay down and die for a disgusting half-breed like you." That caused a silvery eyebrow to rise in bitter amusement,
"Huh, you were more than willing to rape a 'disgusting half-breed' a few minutes ago. Or is that different because she couldn't fight back?" Conrad's breath grated harshly in his ribs as he glowered defiantly at the taller man stood with his arms folded nonchalantly across his chest. "Normally I wouldn't even bother DT-ing for something as pathetic as you, but I kind of like the poetic justice of you being unable to fight back against someone stronger than you." Despite his pain and humiliation, Conrad frowned in confusion, wondering what was meant by 'DT-ing'. Seconds later, there was a flash of bright red light, closely followed by a minor shock wave and dust cloud, forcing him to close his eyes and turn his head. "What d'you think?" The white haired human had been replaced by something even more…unusual. Whatever it was, it was taller and broader than before, it's humanoid body covered with red and black insect-like armour, the fine lines that indicated the separation between the plates glowed with a golden light, as did a kind of starburst formation on it's chest, highlighting a form of breastplate that took the shape of pectoral and abdominal muscles. Eyes devoid of both pupil and iris glowed redly and the almost non-existent lips curled into a smile that displayed sharp, pointed teeth. "Not as cute as Liadan's other form, but damned impressive all the same, wouldn't you say?" It was the same voice, still mocking, but with an undertone of power and an almost insect like buzzing echo behind it.
"What…what the hell are you?" The thing almost pouted in response, resting its hands on its 'hips' in mock annoyance.
"You really don't know anything about demons, do you?"
"You're not a demon." Conrad scoffed, "I've seen them, I summoned them."
"You've summoned foot-soldiers, who have no free will or intelligence. They're cannon fodder, nothing more." Dante retorted, "My father was nothing like those pathetic creatures." Sparda wasn't like any demon before or after him, if Dante were honest, but Conrad didn't need to know that. "You really should have done your homework before you started summoning things you have no real control over."
"I've researched enough to know that there was only one demon who would have lowered himself to mate with a human whore…" Conrad's voice trailed away, both at the realisation of just who was stood in front of him and the fact that he'd clearly just insulted said person's mother. Even with the small amount of research into the demon world that Conrad had undertaken (and it had been limited to summoning and binding rituals only), the Dark Knight Sparda's name had been mentioned on numerous occasions. Of course, Conrad had paid little attention to these stories about him, considering him a fool who had forsaken all that power in favour of a frail human woman. Looking at the sheer power that the man who claimed to be his son generated without even trying, he had to wonder if he hadn't been mistaken in dismissing Sparda out of hand. Perhaps the demon had known something about mixing of bloodlines that the others didn't. The chuckle that came from Dante couldn't be considered humorous by any stretch of the imagination.
"You're determined to piss me off today, aren't you? Attacking my wife, slandering my parents." He sighed, "Those sorts of insults don't work on me any more; you're not the first person who tried to gain the advantage like that. Well, enough of the pleasantries. You're boring me now, so it's time to finish this." Dante watched as Conrad's body shifted into its were-beast form. It wouldn't do him any good, despite the fact that he was stronger in that shape; he was too badly injured to survive much longer, at least without medical intervention, but Dante had no intentions of letting him live anyway.
Liadan stared as Dante unceremoniously broke Conrad's neck, seemingly using no more effort than he would to swat a fly. It wasn't the casual way in which he killed the other were-beast that fascinated her though; it was the form that he had chosen to take in order to do so. She had heard both Dante and Trish comment on 'Devil Trigger' before, something that Trish was apparently unable to do, despite being a demonic creation herself. Liadan had never witnessed it before, but she found it beautiful despite the wicked looking spikes that jutted from his collarbone, shoulders and arms. His form pulsed with energy and strength, innate grace in every movement. Perhaps she was being a little poetic, but the plates of his armour were the colour of garnet and obsidian and the small shock of white hair that remained was swept up and back in a red crest and was achingly familiar to her.
"Dante?" He was by her side in moments, literally, moving so quickly that it was beyond even a were beast's ability to track him. "Is that really you?" She wondered, reaching up to touch his face hesitantly as he knelt beside her. The articulated ridges of his armour were smooth and warm beneath the pads of her fingers, even pulsing slightly, like a heartbeat.
Dante forced himself not to flinch away from her touch, even though he had been expecting it. In this form, rather than being able to feel less, he was actually more sensitive to his surroundings than he was in his human guise. He could feel every detail of the skin of her fingertips, the breath coming from her; even the heat and scent from her body was more noticeable to him. And more attractive. Considering the state she was in, both physically and mentally, she was in no condition for him to act upon the feelings that such heightened attraction awakened. "Oh!" She closed her eyes momentarily at the flash of red light that heralded his transformation back to his human state. For a brief moment there was only the two of them there, foreheads touching and breath mingling as the tension finally left both of them. It was one thing to be separated due to working on different jobs, dangerous though they might be, and a different matter completely for them to be unwillingly separated, with no knowledge of where the other was or what was happening to them.
"Can you walk?" Dante finally spoke, though he was loathe to move. Liadan sighed,
"Yes. Though I'm afraid my boots and jeans are done for." She indicated her bare feet and jeans that were more or less shredded from the knees down. Liadan's transformations, while not being quite as dramatic as her husband's, did tend to alter the shape of her legs considerably, which usually meant that any trousers or shoes she was wearing were totally ruined when she returned to her human form. It was one of the reasons that she often chose not to change shape, that and the memory of a rather embarrassing incident on a visit to Japan where she had been mistaken for a kitsune. Dante shook his head in amused resignation and gathered her up in his arms, jacket and all. The hounds, sensing that their mistress was safe, had returned to their weapon form and were once again safely ensconced in their holsters. She uttered a soft snuffle of contentment, burying her face into the crux of his throat as she settled herself against him.
A little over an hour later found them ensconced on the large sofa in their rooms. Liadan had insisted on bathing, again, and it had been all that he could do to stop her from scrubbing her skin red raw, ignoring her insistence that she was dirty. How she could even begin to imagine that was beyond him, and only fuelled his desire to physically reaffirm his status as her mate. When he had moved to kiss her however, she had stiffened momentarily, fear flashing through her eyes before she remembered whom she was with. If he could, he would have willingly resurrected Conrad and torn him to pieces for making her feel afraid of a man's touch, especially the one man whom she should never be frightened of. At least she still tolerated him enough to snuggle on the sofa, curled between his up-drawn knees with her head tucked under his chin, as was her long-standing habit. He really should have tried to get her to eat something before letting her fall asleep on him, but he hadn't wanted to fight with her again and she really had looked exhausted once the adrenalin rush that had kept her going had finally faded away. He'd make sure she ate before they left in the morning, after they'd gotten paid. Normally he was rather blasé about his payments, but this time he was determined to get as much as he could out of the old man; none of this debacle would have happened if he hadn't stuck his nose where it wasn't welcome. A soft knocking at the door caused her to jump and reflexively clutch at his arms,
"Shh, it's okay; it's just the door." He murmured, gently pushing her back down. "Go back to sleep." He liked to believe that it was simply his presence that allowed her to fall back asleep so quickly. A head of unruly black hair poked round the door a few moments later, "On your own, kid?"
"Hermione and Ron weren't all that happy at the thought of talking to you again, considering what happened back in the Forest." Dante snorted at that comment, though he wasn't really surprised; the red headed youth had serious prejudice issues regarding 'non humans', and his little girlfriend was still idealistic and naïve about the way of the world. She no doubt didn't understand that there was only one real solution to the dispute between Dante and Conrad, at least according to were-beast culture. It was considered a little archaic now but their law gave the mate / spouse the right to demand the life of the perpetrator of rape, which was considered a crime even worse than premeditated murder. Of course, it rarely came down to the death of the accused; usually they were simply ostracised from the clan, but Dante doubted whether Conrad's clan would even do that, considering the fact that Liadan's half-breed status left her lower down the scale in terms of social status.
"And you're not bothered by it?" The boy shrugged and took a seat on the armchair next to the fire.
"Ron's my best friend, but he can be a bit pig headed about things at times and Hermione can be a little...strait laced sometimes, though we're working on that." He grinned briefly. "Besides, I wanted to talk to you alone." It was clearly a little disconcerting for the youth to be talking to the older man while he was reclining in his current position, but Dante had no intentions of moving. Dante had to admit to feeling more than a little curious about what the kid had in mind to talk about, but he wasn't in the mood to initiate any form of conversation. The boy shifted nervously, tugging at a lock of his messy hair. "How do you live up to your reputation?" He finally asked, in a rather pleading voice. Dante shrugged, careful not to wake Liadan again,
"I don't try."
"Huh?" The confusion in the kid's voice was obvious, much to Dante's amusement. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. Look, kid, if you spend your life trying to live up to other people's expectations of you, then you're doing nothing but wasting your time." The half-devil sighed at the crestfallen expression on the youth's face. Why on earth the boy should be so upset about being told that, he had no idea. He didn't really like Harry, but then he didn't know all that much about him and he had to admit that their childhoods had some distinct similarities to them.
For a long few minutes, Harry watched as the being slouched on the sofa in front of him appeared to be deep in thought, absently stroking the long hair of his wife as she slept on his chest, the horrid bruising that Conrad had inflicted on her standing starkly out against her pale skin. While Ron and Hermione had been more aware of the violence and Dante's sudden transformation back in the forest, Harry had noticed that the first thing the man had done when coming upon the scene was head for his wife, his first instinct being to comfort her and check her for physical injuries. Whatever else he might be, that reaction told the young wizard that he was capable of caring very deeply about certain things. Being deprived of such tenderness for the best part of his young life had, perversely, made Harry more able to sense it when directed towards others, rather than himself. He had been honest when he told the man the reasons why he had left Ron and Hermione out of this particular excursion; however dear they were to him as friends, there were simply some things about his life and his experiences that they couldn't understand simply because they hadn't gone through them, never mind the fact that he was afraid that Ron's unconscious bias would raise its ugly head. Of course, it really shouldn't have surprised Harry all that much; every culture and society had its own prejudices and it was simply because Harry had been on the receiving end of those attentions that he was usually more circumspect than the others, unless Voldemort was the subject. Finally Dante sighed, "If we're going to have this conversation, I'm gonna need a drink." It took quite a few minutes, and more than a little cajoling on his part, to get Liadan off of him long enough to get a bottle and a glass, as well as the comforter from the bed to cover Liadan with.
"What do you mean, 'this conversation'?" Harry wondered, as the older man finally settled back, full wine glass in one hand and his wife now stretched out along the sofa with her head in his lap. Amazingly, she had slept throughout the whole process. Dante sighed again and twirled the glass between his fingers, watching the pale liquid as it glittered in the firelight.
"I assume you know some kind of spell or charm or something to stop people listening in?"
"Well, yeah, but…"
"Cast them then. I don't want anyone other than us hearing this." Harry frowned, but did as the man requested, curiosity winning over any suspicions he might have had. "Just what did your friend find out about me?" Harry shrugged. There hadn't been a great deal of information really, just that Sparda was a demon who had turned his back on his brethren two thousand years earlier to protect the human world, then married a human woman and had twin sons, with Dante being one of them. There was a little more information about Dante himself; his mother had been killed when he was a child and he had grown up to become a mercenary and professional devil hunter and was rumoured to have been involved in numerous major demonic incidents. There was next to nothing known about his personal life, his wife wasn't even mentioned, though his two other female companions were commented upon, one being totally human and the other was suspected to be a demonic creation. Nothing at all was said about his twin brother, who appeared to have simply dropped from the face of the earth after their mother's death. "My mother was killed by the Emperor of Hell in revenge for my father sealing him away all those years ago." Dante murmured, once Harry had finished speaking. "She defended me and Vergil until the end, hiding us in separate cubby holes protected with some kind of magic that stopped the demonic assassins from sensing us." He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to banish the still razor sharp memories of one of the worst days of his life. "You don't know how lucky you are that you were too young to understand what was happening, and that the Killing Curse is so neat and clean." Harry watched as Liadan murmured something incoherent from where her face was buried against her husband's stomach, almost as though she were responding to his distress. "By the time I was brave enough to leave my hiding place the demons had gone, and so had my twin brother." A small, bitter smile tweaked his lips; "I was nine years old at the time." He glanced down at Liadan's profile, ignoring the horrified expression on the boy's face. The kid really needed to learn how to control his expressions; it was no wonder he was so easily manipulated if he wore his heart on his sleeve all the time.
"Didn't your mother's family take you in?" Dante snorted, recalling how he'd buried his past so deeply that he'd almost forgotten his real identity. "Her parents were pretty strict religiously speaking. They never forgave her for marrying a demon, and didn't want anything to do with me, even after they were informed of their daughter's death." He shrugged, "They wouldn't have been able to cope with me anyway; I had powers and abilities that they couldn't understand, as well as an overwhelming desire to find and kill the thing that had ordered my mom's murder, never mind that I wasn't coping well with Vergil's disappearance. Loosing a sibling is hard but when it was an identical twin, even if we were totally opposite in personality, it's even worse."
"Well…who looked after you?" Another careless shrug,
"No one. I looked after myself, learned how to shoot and fight the hard way. I survived pretty much by the skin of my teeth those first few years, thanks in no small part to the abilities I gained from my demonic side." For another few minutes, Harry couldn't help but stare at the man seated across from him. For a long time he'd always thought that he'd had a tough time of it since his parents died; living with his relatives had never been easy and more than once bordered on the downright abusive, but at least he'd had a roof over his head and food, however meagre the amount was, as well as relative safety. This man had, for all intents and purposes, grown up on the streets, with no one to care for him or protect him. It was no wonder he could be so aloof and callous at times, and why he was so protective over his wife.
"If you're not bothered about living up to your reputation, why do you protect humans? Why have you been heard to say that you won't kill humans?" Dante sighed and once again returned his gaze to Liadan. He wasn't used to talking so candidly to anyone, even his wife, and it didn't help that he was already emotionally on edge thanks to Conrad's actions towards Liadan, never mind the kid's uncanny knack for forcing him to dredge up memories of a past that he would much rather leave buried.
"I listen to what my soul tells me is the right thing to do." He murmured, smiling slightly as Liadan's soft grey eyes opened a little to regard him curiously, while he recalled parts of a snarled conversation he'd had with Lady back at Temen-ni-gru, when he couldn't have cared less what happened to the human world. Lady's single-minded determination to avenge her mother had pricked at a conscience he'd tried to bury with sex and alcohol, mixed in with the occasional fight with demons and his brother. He doubted whether his 'colleague' even remembered that conversation, or even cared any more. Lady had matured, and very nice to look at she was too, but she had also become cynical and was loosing the youthful naiveté she had once had. He did worry about her a lot, though she would never know it. It was as he said back in Temen-ni-gru; she was good, exceptionally good for a human, but hunting demons for long periods of time was simply beyond a human's capability, no matter what their skills or motivation. Eventually a time would come when she would begin to get injured more often, not through a lack of skill but simply because she was human. Dante had hoped to convince her to give up hunting ever since Temen-ni-gru returned to whatever dimension held it captive, but she was bound and determined to stick to the oath she had made not to let one devil live, with himself being the exception. Of course, such reactions were one of the many reasons why he had vowed to protect humans from the Underworld.
"Your soul?" He'd almost forgotten that Harry was still sat there, until the boy spoke again.
"My soul, my conscience, whatever you want to call it." He shrugged, "The point is that the opinions of people I have never met, and even the ones I have, hold very little weight with me. What do they know of who I am? They've not been through the same things, so what gives them the right to judge me?"
"That's very philosophical for you, are you feeling all right?" Her voice was teasing, which was a relief, despite its hoarseness and the awful swollen bruising on the side of her face, courtesy of the vicious backhanded slap her so-called 'friend' had given her in retaliation for the way in which she had opened up his cheek. At least she was smiling again, though the strain was still obvious around her eyes and in the tension round her mouth. The whole affair had almost been too much for her, following so closely on the heels of Dumary Island. His mind shied away from the thoughts of what might have happened to her if he'd been any later in getting to her. He'd always had a particular hatred of rapists, having seen some of the effects of the act on one of the girls who used to work at the Planet, considering them to be cowards of the highest order. The girl had committed suicide a few months after the attack and Dante had tracked down the man responsible, finding him just before he added another girl to his list of victims. He'd never been so tempted before to kill a human, but eventually his humane side had won out. He'd left him at the back of the police station, with a warning that if he didn't confess to his crimes, Dante would track him down and summarily castrate him.
"What? I can't be philosophical now?" He scowled playfully down at her, inwardly delighted at the teasing sparkle in her eyes. She attempted a retort, but instead yawned widely. "Oh, very attractive."
"You must think so, since you married me."
"H'm, I did, didn't I?" He smirked at the outraged growl that came from her, "Go back to sleep, woman." He smoothed a hand carefully over her hair, his touch becoming feather-light over the injured side of her face. She was obviously still tired, since she acquiesced without a murmur, closing her eyes and snuggling closer to him before she settled again.
"You're saying that I need to stop worrying about what other people say about me?" Harry wondered, more than a little sceptical.
"I'm saying that when it comes down to it, they're not going to be the one standing face to face with old Snake Eyes, you are. End of the day, kid, it's your life and no one else's. If you don't take control of it, then they're just going to manipulate you into doing what they want, especially since you're so easy to read." Dante tilted his head to one side as Harry opened his mouth angrily and then snapped it shut, realising that he'd just reacted in the way the other man was talking about.
"What do you suggest I do?" He sighed,
"First and foremost, you need to learn how to block the old man from getting in your head." Dante tapped his own temple. "He's a schemer of the highest order; he wants to win this war of yours and he's not greatly bothered about how he's going to do it. If it means driving you or your friends into a situation that could kill you, he'll do it."
"Dumbledore wouldn't…" Dante raised a mocking eyebrow,
"Wouldn't he? You saw him do just that yesterday. I refused to promise that I wouldn't kill Conrad and he believed that he could use Liadan to force me to keep him alive."
"But…he's a Gryffindor…"
"Do you really think it matter what House you're in?" Harry sighed and shook his head, as much as he was loathe to admit it, the man was right; Pettigrew had been a Gryff and he'd ended up betraying the people he claimed were his friends, and Harry was sure that there were Slytherins who didn't really follow Voldemort, despite the general consensus that all dark wizards came from that House. "I know it's a cliché, but things really aren't always what they seem. Dumbledore is a case in point; he might look like a friendly old granddad, but he'll sacrifice anyone if he thinks it's the 'right thing' to do. He might not like it, might even tell you he regrets it, but he'll still do it." Harry sighed and nodded. It wasn't exactly what he had expected the other man to say, though he wasn't really sure what he had been hoping for, if he were honest. For a long time he'd had his own suspicions that there was more to the Headmaster than met the eye, considering how many scrapes the seemingly omnipotent man was willing to allow to happen to Harry since he had become a pupil at Hogwarts.
"Your friends are going to be looking for you." Dante's voice broke into his musing, causing him to jump and look up at the older man, who yawned. "And I've not had a nap since yesterday." It wasn't the subtlest way of getting rid of him, but Dante didn't care about that. The kid's angst was permeating the room and Dante already had enough to deal with without adding an over-emotional teenager to the mix. Absently, Harry nodded and got to his feet, heading to the door, before suddenly turning and looking at the older man,
"What would you do if Dumbledore tried to manipulate you or Liadan again?" Dante shrugged, his attention already turned back onto Liadan, who was thankfully still asleep.
"I'd kill him." The old man was lucky that he was still alive, though Dante still had to decide whether being a wizard meant that he was technically a human or not. If he tried to interfere with their lives again, however, it really wouldn't matter. As far as he was concerned, if the wizard had kept his mouth shut, then Liadan would never have been kidnapped and attacked. Sighing, he gathered her and the comforter up and made his way into the bedroom. She might be sleeping peacefully at the moment, but past experience told him that she would soon be having nightmares and he preferred to be comfortable if he was going to be spending most of the rest of the day comforting and reassuring her. It wasn't that he begrudged her feelings, but the fact that she was experiencing them at all meant that he had failed to protect one of the few people he cared about and perhaps the only person he would willingly do literally anything to safeguard. Despite all his powers, weapons and abilities, he'd not been able to stop one lone psycho were-beast from attacking her and nearly succeeding in his attempt to rape her. He'd told her that he was going to take care of her while they were here, and instead someone who she'd believed was a friend had assaulted her.
"Dante..." The whimpered plea was cut off by a hand fastening round her jaw, dragging her head back round so that she was forced to look up at Conrad, who snarled,
"You'll be moaning my name after I'm done with you." He promised, lowering his head as though to kiss her. Liadan screwed her eyes shut, trying vainly to twist her head free of his hand. He was too strong though, fingers squeezing her jaw until her lips parted involuntarily, allowing him to fasten his mouth on hers, tongue delving inside in a sick parody of a kiss. She gagged and coughed as he pulled back, licking his lips. "I can see why Dante keeps you around." He smirked down at her, "If your mouth is that sweet, I can't wait to taste the rest of you. However, as time is of the essence, we're going to have to leave the niceties for another time." He shifted his hips slightly, giving him just enough room to hook the fingers of his free hand over the waistband of her jeans. The sound of ripping cloth caused sheer panic to rise in her mind along with a fresh burst of panicked struggling. Where the hell was Dante? He promised that he'd protect her… Once again, she saw stars as Conrad slapped her, "Don't you get it? He's not coming for you. You're mine now."
"I'll never be yours," she snarled, "You can't break the bond this way…"
"Perhaps," Liadan closed her eyes again as he unfastened his own trousers, "But do you really think that he's going to want soiled goods?" He grinned gleefully down at her as he spread her legs wider, ignoring her renewed struggles and the tears that had finally spilled from her eyes.
"Liadan!" The pain was excruciating, as though she were being torn in half, dragging a tormented scream from her already abused throat. It had never hurt like this before, pain ripping through her every time he drove into her. "Wake up!" How could she ever face Dante again, with him knowing that Conrad had taken what she had given only to him once they became a couple? "Bean chéile!"
With a jolt that flung her into a seated position, Liadan opened her eyes in response to the familiar words, sweat trickling down her back and her chest heaving as she glanced frantically round the rooms that they had been given. "You with me, woman?" It took a few moments for her to respond to the question; she could still feel the weight of Conrad's hands on her, and between her thighs.
"I'm with you." She whispered, wrapping her arms round herself and still unable to look at him. She must have been pretty heavily asleep when he carried her into the bedroom, since he'd managed to undress the both of them without waking her.
"You wanna tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" He murmured, carefully stroking her hair, sighing when she shook her head. "And don't tell me it was nothing." He added, when she opened her mouth. It had taken weeks for him to get her to talk about the nightmares she'd had following Dumary Island, but he wasn't patient enough to go through it all again to find out what terrors her subconscious was tormenting her with now. He was well aware of the irony of him getting her to talk about her feelings, when it was nigh on impossible to get him to talk about his own, even with her, but then again he wasn't the one who had considered jumping out a window only a few days earlier.
"How can you even touch me, knowing what Conrad was going to…?" Dante sighed inwardly,
"Did you ask him to do that to you?" He tightened his hold on her when she tried to squirm away, shaking her head. "Did you want him to?"
"Of course not!" Her eyes were wide, angry and hurt that he'd even asked the question.
"Then what makes you think I wouldn't still want you as my wife?"
"I couldn't defend myself!" She blurted out, "I was too weak to stop him! If you hadn't shown up when you did…"
"Even if he had managed to rape you," he ignored the wince that the word caused, "Then you would still be my wife, in all senses of the word."
"But…" her voice trailed away as he rested a finger on her lips,
"Liadan, nothing that happened out in the Forest made me think that you were weak." He smiled slightly at her disbelieving expression. "If anything, I've never been more proud to be able to call you my wife." The disbelief turned into confusion and she relaxed slightly at his reiteration that he still considered her his mate.
"Really?" He nodded,
"Really. I didn't see a weak, helpless victim in that clearing. I saw someone who, despite being betrayed by someone she thought she could trust and who was naturally stronger than her, was still fighting and was determined not to just lie down and accept what was being done to her." He pulled her closer to him as he leaned back against the headboard of the bed, relieved when she didn't fight him, though she still wasn't as relaxed as he would have liked. "If anyone's to blame here it's me, for bringing you here in the first place, especially since I knew that you were still upset." Liadan snorted softly, 'upset' was perhaps a mild understatement as to how she had been feeling before they came to Hogwarts, but she couldn't agree that it was Dante's fault.
"You thought you were doing the right thing." She argued, tentatively resting her head on his shoulder.
"I could have brought Trish, like you suggested."
"And you'd have done nothing but worry about whether you'd come back to find me dead, or in hospital." He reflexively tightened his arm round her at that comment, not at all liking the images it provoked. "You did what you thought was right." Dante snorted,
"So was me keeping my suspicions about your 'friend' away from you, and look how that turned out."
"That wasn't you fault; how could you have known what he was going to do?" She lifted her head from his shoulder to glare at him, the look softening when she saw the misery in his own eyes.
"I almost lost you, again." She was kissing him before she even thought about it, wanting nothing more than to wipe that look from his face, to assure him that she was real and still with him. When the focus of this heart to heart had shifted from her to him, she wasn't sure, but she couldn't bear to see the wretchedness in his gaze. Such an expression didn't belong in the eyes of the Son of Sparda and she hated the thought that she was the one who had caused it.
The moan that came from him as he deepened the kiss sent a shiver down her spine, though this was one of pleasure rather than fear. His scent surrounded her, his touch gentle, despite the fact that he was trembling with the effort of holding himself back. For a few moments it was as though nothing had happened, that Conrad was nothing more than another nightmare that Dante was going to kiss away and drive from her mind with their lovemaking. His gentle caressing of her body and the teasing kisses that took her breath away were the complete opposite to the violence that Conrad had used on her. It wasn't until he began parting her legs with his knee that a bolt of fear shot through her, causing her to stiffen and pull away from him, staring up at him through wide, terrified eyes. For a few horrific seconds the worried blue eyes and white hair of her husband was replaced in her frightened mind with long, black hair and cold, mocking green eyes. She blinked and the familiar visage returned, causing her to choke out a sob of relief as she forced herself to relax.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, watching as Dante closed his eyes and took a few deep, calming breaths.
"You saw him." He murmured, in horrified realisation. He'd pushed her too far, too quickly. It was barely a few hours since someone had tried to rape her, and he was trying to make love to her already.
"I didn't mean...I couldn't help..." she curled away, burying her face in her pillow, guilt churning in her stomach. How could she have even begun to believe that Dante was Conrad? The two men were as different as night and day. Conrad had wanted to dominate her, to take what he wanted from her with no thought of anything other than wrenching the bond from Dante and gaining some kind of mastery over her; Dante loved her unconditionally, wanted to make love to her simply to give her pleasure, to strengthen and reaffirm the bond between them. "I'm sorry." She turned as his arms wrapped round her from behind, tucking her head under his chin and stroking the crown of her hair.
"Don't be. You've nothing to be sorry for." He shifted slightly; his body still thrumming with unresolved desire, but it was a slight discomfort that was easily thrust away with the remembrance of the terror in her eyes when she thought that he was her attacker. In his clumsy attempt to comfort her, and reaffirm their physical bond, he had inadvertently sparked off some kind of flashback in her mind. "I'll wait as long as you need me to." Liadan huffed softly and nuzzled his throat, inhaling the familiar comforting scent. Despite his assurances she knew that if Dante hadn't arrived when he had, then she wouldn't have been able to hold Conrad off any longer and her nightmare would have become a reality.
Logically, she knew that he was right in everything he had said to her; she wasn't to blame for Conrad's actions and it was unrealistic to expect a half blood fox were-beast to go into a trial of strength against a full blood bear were-beast and believe that they could win, but emotionally the events had just reinforced how unworthy she was to be Dante's mate. He needed someone as strong as he was, someone who could really take care of themselves, like Trish or even Lady. Liadan had let him down twice now, once at Dumary and now here because she wasn't strong enough to defend herself. She was too selfish to even consider leaving him; she needed him so much now that even contemplating being without him made her sick to her stomach. She couldn't expect him to coddle her now after she failed to protect his child, and he'd been through too much for her to put any more pressure on him by demanding that he suffer for her failures as well.
"Dante?"
"Yeah baby?" He roused himself out of whatever thoughts he was considering and glanced down at her,
"Can we go home?"
"You sure? You don't want to rest or eat before we go?" Liadan shook her head; the sooner she got back to the office, the sooner she could start repressing and building mental and emotional walls. Being here just prolonged the pain for both of them and would make it harder for her to hide the cracks from him.
"Okay. Let me persuade Dumbledore to cough up the fee then we'll go." For a brief few seconds, she clung to him as he tried to climb out of bed, "I won't be long, I promise." He gently pulled himself free and knelt beside the bed, taking her face in his hands. "Conrad's dead, a grà, he won't be coming after you again." Silently, she nodded, drawing out a small smile from him. "Be ready to go when I get back, eh?" Another nod. "I love you, Liadan. Don't forget that, ever." A long, soft kiss followed the rare declaration.
"I love you too." She breathed as he drew back.
"Of course you do." He cleared his throat and turned away, still slightly uncomfortable even now with emotionally charged atmospheres. "I'll not be more than thirty minutes." He told her, as he opened the bedroom door. "Be ready."
In the end, it took a couple of hours before they were able to leave the castle, Dumbledore claiming that it took time to arrange for the special Portkeys that Dante had insisted on that would take them directly to the office, rather than having to use the train as they had before. Neither hunter really cared about that, though Liadan absently wondered at the hidden look of nervousness that the old man sent Dante's way as they passed him on their way out to the grounds of the castle. She wasn't sorry to be leaving the wizarding world, and Conrad's betrayal of their friendship behind her, though it would take a lot longer before she was even able to start to come to terms with what he had done not only to her, but also to her relationship with Dante.
Liadan was determined to keep the fallout as far away from her husband's knowledge as possible, if only to protect him from any further guilt. Whether he was aware of her decision or not she wasn't sure; he gave no indications either way, even when she insisted that he take the next job that came his way, despite the fact that it meant leaving her alone in the office for a few days. Instead he had simply handed her a cell phone, insisting that she ring him if she needed him for anything and after a token protest, she accepted the phone, though she had refused to call him.
It wasn't easy, pretending that she was all right, but eventually she became so adept at fooling everyone else that she began to believe it herself and things slowly returned to normal at Devil May Cry, or what could be considered as normal for a half devil mercenary, his half were-beast wife and their motley assortment of friends and colleagues.
She chose to ignore the fact that when one represses such traumatic experiences, the mind has a terrible tendency to bring the crashing into the spotlight when one least expects, or desires, it.