Christmas is for Families
Dante had been away from home since late September pursuing the devil Beleth and his gang across the country. He hadn't fancied the job until Morrison had told him what this devil's quarry was: children, young children at that. He had set off immediately. Didn't even wait to hear what the fee for the job would be. He hoped it would be considerable considering the time it had taken him. He'd picked off the lesser demons that were Beleth's underlings easy enough. Just Beleth himself had been a problem. It was such a slippery customer, always managing to escape just in time.
Eventually the demon ran out of minions to sacrifice and Dante cornered it in an abandoned factory.
"Seems it's between you and me now, Beleth. You gonna fight or just lie down and die?"
Dante sized up his opponent. Beleth was a fairly normal looking guy. A bit taller than Dante, but not much. Its armour showed a muscly body, but that could just be fake. Considering the cowardly way in which the demon boss had always gotten away it was probably just a weedy creature inside a big tin can.
"Silent type, huh?" Dante said to the motionless figure on the other side of the big empty room. "Haven't got all day, so if you're not gonna die by yourself I'm coming to give you a hand."
"HAHAHAHA! PUNY SON OF SPARDA. I WILL TAKE YOUR HAND AND THE REST OF YOU."
Beleth's body expanded, the armour burst open. The demon grew taller and taller. Four black horns sprouted from its head and large leathery wings unfolded. The big hall was barely high and wide enough to contain the demon.
"I think you had too much cake, Alice. Don't worry though. I'll come and cut you to size."
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME, YOU ILL-BEGOTTEN SPAWN OF SPARDA? WALLS DO NOT CONTAIN ME," Beleth bellowed.
The devil pushed against the ceiling and kicked against the walls. The whole building started to collapse while the demon stood laughing among the falling debris. Dante just managed to get away before he got crushed under the collapsing factory. When the dust had settled Beleth stepped outside over the remains of the outside wall.
"Man, you are starting to piss me off," Dante scolded the demon when they stood face to face again. "I haven't had a decent pizza since I started hunting you. Let's finish this so I can go back home."
"I WILL FINISH YOU, YOU FILTHY HALF-BREED. THE LAST OF SPARDA'S BLOODLINE WILL FALL TO ME."
"Don't be so sure of that. It takes a son of Sparda to kill a son of Sparda. As far as I know Pop didn't have a bastard like you."
"YOU PUNY INSECT. I AM THE ONE WHO DRAGGED YOUR BROTHER INTO THE DEMON REALM. I AM THE ONE WHO KILLED YOUR WHORE MOTHER. YOUR LONELINESS IS OF MY MAKING. I AM THE CAUSE OF EVERY MOMENT OF DESPERATION YOU HAVE KNOWN. I DESTROYED YOUR FAMILY AND NOW I WILL DESTROY YOU."
"You? Ha! It took five demons to kill Mom and Vergil was very much alive when I met him ten years later. You couldn't kill a mouse with a mousetrap."
"ENOUGH," Beleth bellowed.
With surprising speed for his bulk the demon swooped towards Dante and threw him against the office block that had been built next to the warehouse. Dante lay motionless among the debris of the smaller building.
"TOO EASY, THOUGH NOT SURPRISING. A HALF-BREED CANNOT TAKE ON A FULL-BLOOD DEMON."
Beleth turned and started walking away, but was stopped in his tracks by the noise of falling stones.
"Yeah! Some action at last."
Dante got up and slid down the pile of rubble.
"This could have been some fun playtime, but as I told you before, I want to go home. Playtime is over," he said as he started shooting Ebony and Ivory at the demon that was facing him again.
The bullets seemed to have little effect on the fiend.
"YOUR TOYS CANNOT HARM ME, BUT MINE CAN HARM YOU," Beleth remarked as he threw a dagger the size of a small sword towards Dante.
It pierced the half-devil who nevertheless continued firing his guns, as he was carried backward by the force of the throw. He came to a halt when the weapon that had pierced him lodged itself in the wall of a wooden shack. Dante pulled Beleth's dagger from his body and threw it away.
"You know, I was looking forward to a bit of sparring with you. It's just that after chasing you across the country and killing your minions I kinda lost my appetite for this game."
"GAME? THIS IS NO GAME!"
"Isn't it? My mistake. I like it even less if it is serious. Time to stop playing then."
Dante produced his father's weapon, took the Perfect Amulet that he always wore on a chain and turned Force Edge into the Sparda. Then he triggered. Even in his devil trigger Dante was not as tall as Beleth, but the demon was taken aback when he saw the horned devil Dante had turned into.
"THIS CANNOT BE. YOU DIED. I SAW YOUR DEAD BODY. I CELEBRATED YOUR DEMISE."
"No, can't say I ever died, not really, even if Vergil gave it a good shot."
Dante attacked the demon with the Sparda. It blocked the attack but the half-devil noticed his opponent's uncertainty. He slashed and hacked at the much bigger demon, and though his strikes were parried, there came no counterattack from Beleth. Eventually the demon was consumed by fear for the devil that he thought had risen from the dead, and it started to make mistakes. Dante's attack broke through its defences. Cuts and slashes crisscrossed the demons torso. Deeper and deeper the cuts went.
"Sparda is dead, Sparda is dead," Beleth kept whispering, its big booming voice gone.
"Yep, so he is. I'm the ill-begotten, puny, half-breed son of Sparda."
For a moment there was a flicker of defiance in Beleth's eyes as if he refused to be defeated by Dante. Just then Dante had taken out Ebony and Ivory.
"Let's see if these babies work better now."
Still devil-triggered he blasted shot after shot into the demonic body until all that was left was a bloody pulp, a heap of bloody flesh.
"I minced you, you bastard," Dante said to himself, looking on with satisfaction as Beleth's remains burst into flames and disappeared.
Another demon that wouldn't prey on the innocent any longer.
ooOOoo
Dante released his devil-trigger and went looking for his bike, left just outside the grounds of the factory. He had no idea what day it was, or even what month. He knew he had been away for several weeks, but he had lost track of time. There had been moments when he hadn't slept for days, either because he was following Beleth, or because he was fighting another group of the demon's minions.
The bike was still where he had left it. Thankfully it had been too far away from the debris that was thrown from the factory. Sitting on his bike, driving back down the road he had come, knowing he had finished a job gave him a good feeling. When he came to the remnants of the town that had once provided the workforce for the factory he stopped at the only remaining eatery. The small diner had probably never amounted to much, not even in the heydays of the factory, but it was the only place that still served food of some variety.
He ordered a coffee and an omelette when the waitress told him they "were fresh out of pizzas".
"And that," Dante thought, "was the only connection that could be made between 'fresh' and anything in this place."
He looked for an indication of the date, but the calendar was stuck on August some years back. Probably because of the scantily clad beach bunny on the picture. There was no newspaper in the place, and when he wanted to ask the waitress Dante heard her in the kitchen giving the cook – the only other staff member – quite an earful.
Dante started to eat the dry omelette. The coffee tasted passible but could have been warmer. When he had finished he heard the waitress was still giving the poor cook hell, so he left some money on the table and went. A couple of days would take him to Capulet City and one of Antony's pizzas.
That night he slept in a hayloft in exchange for chopping a pile of wood for the owner. The old woman' conversation was limited to one syllable words and grunts. When he had finished the chore she had set him, she showed him his sleeping place, pushing an old blanket and a bowl of some undefined stew in his hands. For all Dante knew the meat in it could be rat, but he wasn't going to ask, especially as the lady might take offence and the stew tasted rather better than the omelette earlier that day.
When Dante left the following morning it had become colder, and it had started drizzling. He drove through a landscape that was totally devoid of human habitation. The drizzle turned into a full-blown rainstorm. Ice cold water trickled down the back of his neck, making him soaking wet to the skin. Darkness fell early, but he continued until he came to a rundown motel, the first building he had seen all day. There was just one free room, cold as a grave because the thermostat was bust. An inadequate electric heater cost extra. Dante declined the offer.
Next to the motel was a diner. It was small, clean, and served some decent food. They even had a functioning public phone so he could call Morrison. It was a quick call.
After only a couple of rings Dante heard, "J.D. Morrison. How can I help you?"
Without preamble Dante said, "Job's done. I'll be back in a few days' time."
"Okay, see you then," Morrison answered and ended the call.
After his meal Dante went to his room, spread out his clothes on the furniture, took a shower which to his relief was actually hot, and went to bed. Despite the long ride in terrible weather sleep did not come immediately. It was as if he could still hear the voice of Beleth.
It kept repeating the same words over and over again, "Your loneliness is of my making. I am the cause of every moment of desperation you have known. … Your loneliness and desperation … your loneliness and desperation …"
"Stop it! Shut up!" Dante shouted.
He decided that he would ride off in the dark night if sleep kept eluding him. He would give it thirty more minutes, then he would go.
ooOOoo
In the morning, after a night of fitful sleep, Dante felt rough, but he had felt worse. After breakfast in the little diner he continued his journey. That evening he didn't stop, but carried on driving through the night, telling himself it was because he wanted to be home again.
Home? Did he have a home? Wasn't it just a place where he slept and where people who needed him could find him? At best it was a place where he could lock the door and drink until he could no longer think or feel. Stop it! He had to stop such negative thoughts. He had to think of pleasant things, like the money he would get for getting rid of Bethel. Knowing his luck somebody would say he had to pay for the destroyed factory though. Damn!
The weather became progressively worse. The rain came pelting down obscuring his vision. The wind had picked up as well making the bike ride even worse. Dante stopped as soon as he saw a place that was serving something warm. He didn't stay long, preferring to get to Capulet City quicker. He didn't even stop for lunch but continued until the evening when he stopped at a place he recognised. The restaurant of the small hotel was still serving. The day's special looked nice and was cheap. After the meal tiredness suddenly overtook him, so he got a room, went to bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
The following day Dante didn't wake up until midday, but at least he felt rested and refreshed. He had a big lunch before setting off again. He stopped in the evening at a place that was always open late. After his meal he dozed a bit on the comfortable bench. Not long after midnight he started on the last leg of his journey.
It was cold and blowing like mad, but at least the rain had finally stopped. In the morning it remained dark for a long time. The grey skies had become darker and denser. As he approached Capulet City the wind finally died down. Dante was looking forward to getting to Devil May Cry. He would pick up some pizza on the way. All he wanted besides that was a drink and his bed. He really needed to catch up on some sleep.
When he arrived in the suburbs of Capulet City Dante saw the houses decorated with Christmas lights, something he hadn't noticed on his ride. He hated Christmas. It always brought back memories of the Christmases with his family. Eva had loved the holiday and had always made it special for her boys, even after Sparda had disappeared. Dante remembered the mountain of cookies she would bake, and the Christmas dinner, completely made from scratch. Damn, he would need more than one drink if he started to think about his mother.
Getting closer to the town centre Dante realised it was pretty close to Christmas. Just about every house had lights outside or a Christmas tree inside. Decorating the tree together with Vergil had been such fun. Taking out the old baubles and figurines, going out with Eva to choose the one new decoration for that year. There would also always be a fight to see who could put the figure on the top of the tree. If he won he would put the golden haired angel on the tree because it looked like their mother. Vergil never selected the pretty angel. Whenever he won it would be a demon, closely resembling Sparda, that would look down at the family from the top of the tree.
Dante hoped he still had some strong liquor at Devil May Cry. He would need it if thoughts like these kept coming. When he turned into Beech Street and saw the lack of light at Antony's Pizza Palace Dante started to panic. The lack of lights meant that the place was closed and Antony was only ever closed for one day each year, Christmas day.
Dante swore. If he was lucky there would be some pizza in the freezer. More importantly, there should be a bottle of whiskey about the place. He turned from Beech Street into Larch Avenue when he heard the bells tolling, calling people to church. He saw them coming out of their houses dressed in their Sunday best.
Christmas Day meant bells ringing all day in every one of the ten churches in Capulet City, carol singers even in the remote street where Devil May Cry was situated, and memories unrelentingly tugging at his heart until he could stand it no longer. Forget about pizza. What he wanted was a gallon of pure alcohol to knock him out until New Year's Eve, when he could go to the strip club and have some fun.
Dante revved up his motor cycle and splattered a girl in her best Christmas outfit.
He could hear her cry out, "You fucking bastard. You ruined my clothes."
He ignored her and rode off towards his office, and home. Soon there would be oblivion until the season of goodwill had disappeared for another year. He tried to find a route with little or no human habitation. The sight of all those happy faces on their way to church or a party in someone else's home sickened him. They made him acutely aware of his loneliness, of the bare office that was his home. A place where nobody waited for him, where Christmas didn't exist. A cold place that would need hours before it had warmed up to a reasonable temperature. No, he couldn't think about that. He couldn't let himself sink away in self-pity. That way lay the blackness of depression, like the one he'd had the Christmas after he had lost Vergil for the second time. It had taken months before Morrison had managed to drag him out of it with a case that he couldn't refuse.
Dante sighed. He definitely needed that drink. Hopefully there was enough at Devil May Cry to get sufficiently drunk.
He had now entered the business area of Capulet City. Mr Henderson, a small business man who lived above the shop, was running to catch up with his family before they got to church. Otherwise the streets were deserted. Lights flickered on and off in shop windows. Most were closed, except for the corner shop in Rose Crescent that was always open and sold just about everything, including kitchen sinks, the little newsagent's shop on Trinity Square where a desperate husband might find some chocolates as a last minute present for his wife, and the seedy off-licence in Deacon Street that didn't have much that was nice but a lot that was strong. At least there was a place to go to if he couldn't find enough at home to knock him out.
He turned the last corner into the street that ended in front of Devil May Cry. The neon sign with the blinking 'D' seemed to wink at him. Then he saw Morrison's car standing in front of the shop, and light escaping through the gaps in the shutters.
"Shit! What kind of crap job will he have now? I'm not taking it. It's Christmas. I want to get rat-arsed, shit-faced, and totally wasted."
Dante pushed his bike in the little alleyway next to the shop. Somebody had left some junk there covered with tarpaulin. If it was still there in the new year he would get rid of it. Some people just thought they could leave their rubbish anywhere.
Even more annoyed than he had been at the sight of Morrison's car, Dante went to the front door of Devil May Cry and pushed it open. What he saw then froze him to the spot. A large Christmas tree was standing next to the stairs to the mezzanine. Half of it was decorated in classic red and gold, the other side had white tinsel and as many pink roses, baubles and furry toys it could hold, including three Barbie-pink flocked reindeer. The pool table had been pushed to the side, and a trestle table that was set for eight people occupied the centre of the room. Standing around the place with drinks in their hands were Lady and Trish, Patty and her mother, Nero and Kyrie, and Morrison.
Patty ran towards Dante and pulled him inside.
"Merry Christmas, Dante. We were all afraid you would be too late," she squealed.
"Too late for what?" Dante asked.
"Christmas dinner of course, you silly. You do know it's Christmas day, don't you?"
"Yes I know. Unfortunately. I should be unconscious by now. I'm behind schedule. What the hell are all of you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your family on Christmas?"
"That's why we're here, old man. You're family, right? You're the only family that Kyrie and I have got. That's why we're here."
"You probably don't remember me. I'm Patty's mother. You looked after my Patty, and protected her. She never stops talking about you. You're like … like Patty's uncle or something. You're family to Patty and she wouldn't have missed this for the world."
"I haven't got family. Not here or anywhere else. Without you I would have been one of Mundus' mindless killers. You showed me my soul, Dante. You made me the woman I am. If you're not my family, then who is?"
"Okay, I get that. But what about you, Lady? Didn't I kill the only family you had left?"
"My father died long before you got to him, Dante. For me he died when my mother died. We both lost the poor remnants of our family at Temen-ni-gru, and we have been friends ever since. I just hope that qualifies me to be part of your Christmas family."
"Sure, Lady. Welcome to the family. And what about you, Morrison? Haven't you got a family of your own?
"No, Dante, I don't have family. You're the only person I see on a regular basis. I try to give you some good advice which you systematically ignore. I suppose that gives us a kind of father-son relationship."
"Don't expect me to call you 'Pop', Morrison."
"You always try to push people away, Dante, but you're a good man. That's why we all care for you. That's why everyone here thought it was a good idea to come here to celebrate Christmas with you."
"That's why I pick up all sorts of waifs and strays, you mean."
"Yeah, old man. And all your waifs and strays wanted to have a proper family Christmas. Can you stop winging now? I want to get to the food."
Dante looked at the people gathered there in his office. They called themselves 'his family', and they were right. In a way they were. He would never forget Eva, Sparda, or Vergil. Nero and Kyrie would never forget her brother Credo. Lady would never forget her mother. Patty's mother and Morrison had probably lost people they would never forget. All those people would be there with them, the invisible part of their family. The memories would remain, but perhaps it was good to create some new ones, so that recalling the old ones became a pleasure instead of causing pain.
"Okay, let's get this party going. I'm sitting that side of the table though," Dante said, pointing towards the back of the office.
"Don't you think the tree looks lovely, Dante," Patty asked.
"Lovely? Are you kidding me? That awful pink stuff is yours, is it squirt?" Dante asked Patty.
"It is, and it isn't awful. It is totally the latest fashion in Christmas decoration. You know absolutely nothing."
"No, and glad of it."
They sat down to a delicious Christmas dinner, cooked by Patty's mother who since settling down with her daughter had found she had a knack for producing wonderful food. Afterwards they watched some soppy Christmas films on the new TV they had bought as a gift for Dante.
"Patty thought it was time you replaced the old black and white, old man. This is after all the 21st century," Nero said when Dante had unwrapped it.
Later on the table was turned into a cold buffet for anyone who was hungry. Lady and Trish were shooting pool. Nero and Kyrie were still watching the TV. Patty, her mother and Morrison were playing cards. Dante was sitting in his favourite spot, leaning back in his chair with his feet on his desk.
"Forgot to tell you something, Dante," Morrison suddenly said. "The reward for killing Beleth has already been paid. 10,000 dollar, as promised. I also had a call from the owner of the factory you destroyed."
"I didn't destroy it, Morrison. Beleth did," Dante said, annoyed that he would lose his reward to pay for something he hadn't done.
"I thought it would be wise not to mention that, when the guy offered to pay for the demolition job. It saved him having to hire a company to do it."
Dante sat up in his chair. "Do you mean I'm getting paid for that instead of being billed?"
"Yeah, that's about it."
"Man," Dante settled back in his normal position. "This definitely is a Merry Christmas."
The End