Kat enjoyed the weight of the big old book in her backpack. She had searched for it for over 5 years, after having seen pictures of it in the Order's database and now it was in her possession. She had taken up the search a few months ago, when she realized that she had nothing except the Wiccan compound to make rifts into Limbo, she had even lost her egg-timer.
"What's so good about that book?" Dante asked, not understanding her excitement over it.
"It's like a Wiccan textbook." Kat beamed. "I can make new things, Wiccan devices that can help me fight of demons."
"Isn't that what I do?" Dante asked. This comment annoyed her. Dante wasn't necessarily talking down to her, but he didn't understand why she would want to fight too. He was Nephilim, generally what he did, was kill demons. And the fact that Kat had begun to feel somewhat like a damsel in distress, when she had to hide and be saved by Dante and his arsenal of angelic and demonic weapons. And now she finally had some means to change that.
"Why can't I do it as well?" Kat mumbled. They walked in silence for while, Kat sulking a bit and Dante didn't quite understand why she was so quiet. However that silence was soon broken. The eerie familiar roar of incoming demons filled the air, the ground growled and a pack of Stygians jumped out.
"Take cover!" Dante called and summed Rebellion forth. Almost reluctantly Kat ran and hid behind a parked car and watched as Dante effortlessly smashed through the demons. The second that the last Stygian was crushed, a handful of Shielded Bathos appeared. Kat clenched her fists, of all the smaller demons, she hated those fat little flying bastards the most, so annoying.
"Come get it, motherfuckers!" The Nephilim called out and taunted the little demons. They smashed their shields and some of them threw mines on the ground. Using the Arbiter he pulled the Bathos' towards himself and smashed through their shields. As he thought he was finished, one of their mines landed by the car, where a wide eyed Kat stood. Scared and uncertain, she tried to evade it, running away from the car, however the demons didn't stop this easily and threw multiple mines, blocking every escape route.
"Dante…?" She breathed, standing completely still, in disbelief whether her life was about to end at the hands of a Shielded Bathos, her most hated kind of demon.
Not wasting a second, Dante summoned the Osiris and pulled himself towards Kat, lifted her up, and pulled them up towards a lamppost, away from the mines.
"Wait here." He winked, still in high spirits from the fight. Seconds later the demon's last sight was the Eryx smashing into its face.
"You okay?" He asked as Kat walked out into streets again.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Despite being happy to be alive, the fact that she once again had been the damsel in distress, bothered her. Minutes earlier she had been so certain that she was going to fight back with her Wiccan ways, but her role seemed to be pretty solid.
"Something wrong?" Dante looked concerned.
"No, I uh…" She shook her head, she shouldn't be this upset about it. "Let's just get home, okay?"
"Alright." Dante said hesitatingly, still eyeing her.
They hadn't gotten off the streets, until they heard footsteps behind them. Dante instinctively reached for his guns, prepared to shoot whoever or whatever was storming towards them.
"Excuse me!" A woman's voice called out. Surprised, both of them turned around. A woman in businesslike clothes stood behind them, with her shoes in her hand. They just stared at her, not sure what to make of this odd display. The woman quickly put her shoes back on and brushed the hair from her face.
"Uh, hello." She said. "I just saw what you did back there... with those… creatures." Dante's jaw tightened, he wasn't very keen on being known as a freak, now that Bob Bardas' propaganda seemed to be forgotten after Limbo had crashed into the real world.
"What do you mean?" He asked coldly.
"I want a favor of you." She said bluntly. "Of course I'll pay you, name a price."
"What's the deal, lady?" Even the offer of money didn't seem to relax him.
"There is a girl, her name is Ellie." The woman began, not affected by Dante's hostility. "Her family lives in the neighboring town, or rather the suburbs, you know, the west one, infested with the mob." She said this with some disdain. "But she has gone to school here, and there is some trouble in her family, so she is not safe here. Not that any of us are safe with those creatures roaming around now."
"So you want us to take her to the suburbs?" Kat intervened.
"Yes. I owe her family, and I'll pay you what you want to do it. I'll give you her address and such, once we've agreed on a price." This woman was certainly a non-nonsense kind of person. Kat and Dante exchanged looks.
"Gives us a sec, lady." Dante said and walked a bit away with Kat. "What do you think?"
"She's obviously involved with the mob." Kat shot the woman a glance.
"If we can name our price, I'm definitely interested in doing this for a living." Dante grinned. "If we're careful, we shouldn't get too involved. Besides, who the fuck is going to want to mess with me?"
"It does seem interesting." Kat said thoughtfully. The thought of actually getting some income and being able to actually buy something other than food once in a while. A special thought went to the ingredients and tools she was going to need for her Wiccan devices. And new clothes wouldn't hurt either, she looked at herself and Dante, yep, they could definitely use the money.
"Alright, ma'am." Kat smiled. "How much are you willing to pay?"
"We are picking her up from school?" Dante said in disbelief. The kindergarten a few houses down the road made him very concerned about this girl's age.
"She's been instructed to find us after school." Kat looked at the small note the businesslike woman had given her. "Apparently as few people as possible must know about this, so let's just go along." Dante sighed dramatically and Kat rolled her eyes. "Just think of the money, okay?"
The school bell rang and children began to flood out of the building.
"We must look like the weirdest parents ever." Dante pointed out as several children and parents gave them strange looks.
"Must be your hair, Snow White." Kat smiled.
"You don't think those doodles on your head and hands might have something to do with it?" Snow White bit back.
"These look nice." Kat gave him the finger.
"Are we starting dirty talking now?" Dante narrowed his eyes. "You sure you want to go there?"
"Hey, there are kids around, you'll look like a pedo, Snowy."
"Using children as a shield, Kat, I thought that was below you!" Dante gasped. And so a bickering began, that could easily divide their age by 3.
"Uh, are you…" A young teenage girl with her hair drawn back in a shaggy ponytail, broke of their argument.
"Oh, you must be Ellie." Kat said, slightly embarrassed.
"Yeah, are you the ones Charlotte talked about?" She seemed insecure and picked her nails.
"Yes, we're going to take you back to your family." Kat tried to smile, uncertain how to address the girl.
"Just the two of you?" The girl asked skeptically.
"We'll be plenty." Dante broke in. "You ready to go?"
"Uh I… Give me one second." The girl took of her backpack and started digging through it. She brought up a kind of necklace, covered with all kinds of straps, feathers and little beads.
"What the hell is that?" Dante stared at it.
"Um… a talisman?" She said carefully, as if she was afraid of judgment.
"Against what?" Kat as with a curious politeness.
"I attract demons, like very easily." She looked down. "I – if I wear this, they won't notice me as much."
Dante raised an eyebrow, but Kat leaned down and inspected it interested.
"That's really well done!" She exclaimed.
"Really?" The girl looked at her talisman. "I just used instructions I found of a page about protective charms online, and this one seemed like the best one for me."
"It's Wiccan." Kat smiled. "And it hides your presence from evil creatures, so you made just the right thing."
"Thanks." The girl smiled shyly. "I guess I'm sort of demon sensitive or something, I've been seeing demons since before everyone else began to see them, a few months ago." Dante and Kat exchanged knowing looks.
"I think you're a medium, like me." Kat said. "Like me." The girl was speechless, the discovering of the fact that she was not alone made her eyes almost sparkle.
"For real…?" She muttered almost inaudible, Kat smiled brightly.
"I'm Kat by the way. This is Dante." She pointed at white haired young man, who was getting impatient.
"I'm Ellie." The girl smiled. "Well, I guess you guys already knew that."
"Yep, we did." Dante said. "Now let's get going, okay?" With no money for any kind of transport, walking was their only current choice of getting to the suburbs.
"Yeah, alright!" Ellie said determined and lifted up her backpack. As Dante lead the way, she and Kat looked at each other, Ellie dying to know get the answers to the questions that had haunted her since early childhood.