There is no real truce possible. A devil is a devil. We are the enemies of mankind, whatever we do. There is no salvation possible, no one to hear our confessions or give us absolution. We just wait to die and go to hell. Devils simply can't go to heaven, no matter what they do. No matter how many lives they save. No matter how many times they save the world. No matter how many beatings they get in order to save even one hour to a miserable human with a lifespan of about 80 years. And that is without taking into account the murders, suicides, illnesses, mortal accidents and all those other whatnots that everyone hears about on the news. They can go to heaven even though some of them are infinitely worse than us. Even though they create stuff like nuclear bombs and such. But us demons, because we're tougher, because our lifespan is much longer, because we come from an alternate world, we are all doomed from our birth and can't ever hope for forgiveness. That would mean feeling sorry for having been born, and we just don't do that. Especially demons and halflings like myself who take pride simply in being alive. That's exactly why I never believed in that crap called God.

Come on, how could I believe some supernatural being was benevolent and all-loving when I myself, because of the demon powers running in my blood, because my dad and mom just had the bad luck to fall in love with each other, was already meant for an eternity of suffering, after my death, by that same God? It was just plain ridiculous to just even think of thinking about it. I did what my soul told me to do, period. I didn't need anybody to tell me what was good and what was bad. They'd just waste their time anyway. I'm stubborn like that. Luckily, the people around me – Trish, Lady, the clients – never really cared where my convictions lay. I did the jobs, I paid my debts when I could, I killed demons and tried saving humans, I never complained about the food or the dirty jobs, I never got into too much of a bad mood when I lost bets. I considered myself an okay guy. Sure I had some shady connections, sure I mostly ate pizza and strawberry sundaes, sure I mostly drank tomato juice and sometimes a beer or two when I felt up to it, but those weren't particularly bad quirks, right? They were just my eccentricities and nobody got hurt because of them, so it was alright. I wasn't developing that much of a bad karma, like some humans would say. And I'd say I saved the world of those stupid humans enough times to repent for them. So then why was life such of a boredom?

"...te... Dante. DANTE!", yelled Lady, right in my ear.

I turned around and looked at her levelly, without even jumping in surprise. You just learned to do that after a while. "What is it that you have to destroy my eardrum for?", I growled at her, not exactly in the mood to be playful.

"I've been calling you for a while now. Couldn't you hear me?", she countered indignantly, crossing her arms and sitting on my desk right beside my legs. Trish was looking at us from the sofa, on my right. I didn't even have to look to know she was there. "Anyway, I was about to tell you about a job I got, but you don't seem to be feeling too well for devil ass-kicking. I'm gonna go alone."

She jumped off my desk and headed for the door. I growled deep in my throat and put my feet back on the floor. "When are you leaving? I'll go with you. I need to pass some frustration onto something," I told her, getting up.

She stopped and turned around, raising an eyebrow as she looked at me. "I'll be passing by Fortuna City on my way," she informed in an innocent tone.

I swore under my breath, then crossed my arms. The little witch had some kind of plan in mind, maybe even a trap. Don't ask how I knew it, it was something I learned to detect after passing years with those two females. No other woman or devil was as evil as those two. And one of them was purely human. "It's okay, I can just go around it at that point and wait for you on the other side of the city."

Hands landed on my shoulders and forced me back down on my chair. I looked up and behind me. There stood Trish with one of those "don't you dare do something stupid like trying to get away because I'll snap your neck and cut your balls off when you're trying to gain back consciousness" kind of glares. I never did like those and the situations they were used in, except when they weren't directed at me, which wasn't often.

Lady took a few steps back towards my desk and put her hands flat on it, placating me with that hard as stone stare of hers that definitely said something like "guys are idiots and you're no exception, Dante". I hated that kind of look, too, though it was a bit less dangerous than Trish's. "Stop spewing bullshit, Dante. Even if YOU haven't realised it yet, us girls can't help but notice it. What's more, we've been your partners, so we know you, and we can analyse your moods as easily as we know how many women you've bedded in the last year. Our diagnosis: you're depressed and sexually frustrated. And you've been that way since you got back from Fortuna City."

I felt Trish shake her head behind me. "No. Even before that. I first noticed after you killed Nelo Angelo, then Mundus. After that, every time you saved the world, you got worse. But it seems like since you left that kid up in Fortuna City, you've fallen even deeper in your bad mood, Dante."

Lady nodded vigorously in agreement. "I don't know if it's the white hair and blue eyes, if it's because he's somewhat of a halfling too or if it's because he's a male ally, but I've been getting the feeling that somewhere inside you, you're comparing him to your twin brother and longing for him. You know he isn't coming back, so get over it and fuck the damn kid, already! Everybody will be much more happy afterwards, and it'd be even better if he became your lover and new partner, but I won't ask that much of you. Yet."

I felt one of my eyes start to twitch and grabbed the armrests of my chair so hard, they'd split any moment. "Why are you girls so enthusiastic about seeing me with another guy? Shouldn't you be matching me up with one of your girl friends or something?"

Lady's eyes were still telling me "guys are idiots and you're a lifetime away from being an exception, Dante" while Trish's were drilling holes in the back of my head. I knew they were. "How many women have you had since you met the kid?", asked the blonde.

I didn't even have time to formulate an answer or a protest because Lady answered for me. "None."

"Have you tried flirting with any woman or responded to their flirts since you came back?", continued the demoness mercilessly.

"Nope," replied once again the explosive brunette.

"Have you jerked off to any of those porn magazines of yours recently?"

They really were asking for it. I jumped to my feet, glaring daggers at Lady since she was the one in front of me. I could sense my Devil Trigger become impossibly ticklish, and that was never a good sign. "What the hell do you two witches care what I do with my libido for! Am I asking you what kind of stick you've been using to play with yourselves recently? NO! Because I know you wouldn't take any excuses and just castrate me instead of answering! Do you really expect me to just stay still as you expose every aspect of my sexual activities to one another in front of me? And you even dare to try and force me into bed with the kid! One, he's already got a goddamn girlfriend! Two, he lives in a different reality than you and I! Three, he considered me an enemy for a couple of days, back there! He even tried to kill me! How the fuck do you expect me to work this shit out! What the fuck does banging Nero have anything to do with my brother's death!", I yelled, my eyes glowing red in anger and my power rising in tidal waves.

The door opened suddenly and all three of us froze as a familiar figure stepped in. It was Nero, and he was looking surprised, a bit lost, maybe even a bit scared. "So this really is where you live, Dante," he said awkwardly, probably not really knowing if he'd come in at an appropriate time or if he'd just stepped into something potentially dangerous.

"Speak of the devil," whispered Lady, turning around. "Yep, this is the lair of the great lady/demon killer, Dante! Don't be shy, come forward. Trish and I were leaving, anyway, since our discussion with that thickheaded idiot is over."

The two girls started to leave, but on her way out, Trish put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "I suggest you don't wind him up any more than he already is if you don't want to fight his full power. He's about to go berserk."

Nero blinked in confusion. "Uh... thanks for the advice?"

Just before she was out the door, Lady looked at me over her shoulder. "Don't forget our discussion, Dante. And don't bang the poor kid too hard."

Her first and only smart move today was to get out before I decided the world didn't need one more woman. But I knew they knew they had gone too far. And they also knew I did know that. The fact that they hadn't apologised or changed the course of the discussion just meant they were serious and they wanted to be sure their point had gotten across to me. I had to admit they were right on some points. Yes, I was sexually frustrated. Yes, my brother's disappearance, then death, had dealt a pretty hard blow on me, more so than I would've ever liked to admit. Yes, I'd once considered, though not seriously, going to Fortuna to fuck the kid right in front of his girlfriend, but that had been on a rainy day, when I was out of cash, out of pizza, hadn't had any clients in over a month, I was reading the same magazine for the hundredth time consecutively and I hadn't had any sleep in a few days. I also had to admit that I had seen myself doing some lewd things to him while I slept. I don't dream, because I don't care what happens in the future. But those three times were isolated cases. It didn't mean that I desired Nero. Oh no, it didn't. The kid believed in god. All he had to do to go to heaven was cut off his Devil Bringer and let the demonic blood in his system be purged. Life was simply unfair. And why am I even thinking about stupid things like that in the first place!

I sighed as I sat back down into my chair and propped my feet back onto my desk. I had to calm down, anyway. "So, why're you here, kid?", I started the conversation off casually.

Nero looked around, then went and sat on the sofa. Right where Trish had sat. But that didn't matter and I could even say that it was irrelevant. "Meh... Broke up with my girlfriend and decided I'd try something new by coming here. Been a while since we last saw each other, huh?"

I could tell he was awkward and sighed once again. "How much have you heard?", I asked him calmly.

He looked aside. "Your outburst could be heard a couple of streets away. I heard all of it."

Sighing, I put my feet on the ground, turned my chair to face him, put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. "Look... I won't do anything to you, don't worry. But I won't be mad if you decide to hit me a couple of times upside the head, kick me in the nuts, scream insults at me and leave somewhere where I won't be able to find you. In any order you want. They just pissed me off real bad and I'm not exactly feeling at my best."

"Please dont say that before knowing the full reason I came here, Dante...", he objected quietly.

I lifted my head and looked at him with surprise. He was blushing a little, but staring at me seriously. "Then why exactly have you decided to come here?"

It was his turn to sigh, and he leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees, and looked at the floor. "As I've told you, I broke up with my girlfriend. Truth is, after you left, I thought about you more and more, and about her less and less. Most of what I did was fight demons off of Fortuna, but after a while of being interrupted, she decided that I had to stop fighting demons all the time and stay with her or go find myself someone else who wouldn't mind all the fighting. I immediately thought of you, and I considered trying it out..."

"So you're saying that girl hates that you fight demons and you decided to come and woo me out of curiosity without even wondering if I batted for the two teams?"

"Gloria- err... Trish... once told me that demons don't exactly care about the sex of their partners..."

"Why that little...", I mumbled under my breath, before sighing and deciding I'd go to bed early. I got up and headed for the staircase. "At any rate... putting talks of intimate relationships aside... I don't mind you staying here for a while. As long as you make yourself useful, of course, and take some jobs too. Unfortunately, I only have one bedroom, which only has one bed. And the couch isn't safe. So we'll have to figure something out."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "'The couch isn't safe'?"

"Yeah, you never know when demons will try to break in here to kill me or when the demonic objects I leave down there may decide to wake up and rampage. Last time someone other than me tried coming in here in the middle of the night, they ended up spooked, with a broken leg and an object used to call demons that had been given to them by someone who hated my guts and later summoned a powerful devil to try and take over the world."

Without another word, Nero followed me upstairs, beyond a door and into a small corridor leading to three doors. "If you want to shower, it's downstairs, but there's a second toilet up here," I said as I pointed to the first door. "Just remember not to flush it if I'm in the shower, k?" I then pointed to the door at the end of the corridor. "That's technically the broom closet, but I keep some swords, un-enchanted guns and ammunitions and a couple other stuff like that. You know... in case the shop gets attacked and it happens to be the one unlikely chance that neither of my guns are with me." I then opened the third door and stepped in. "And this, of course, is the bedroom. As you can see, the bed is pretty small, so you take it and I'll just sleep on the floor or go on the couch downstairs. I'll think of something else tomorrow."

As I was about to turn around, the kid grabbed my arm, his head hung low so that I couldn't see his face. "I don't mind sharing the bed. I don't mind at all," he said shyly.

I wasn't even in the mood to consider it. I simply shook his hold off. "Well I do," I merely said as I left him there and went back downstairs to sleep on the couch.

The next day, first thing in the morning, the phone rang, taking me abruptly out of my sleep. In fact, I got so startled that I somehow ended up falling to the ground. I didn't remember having a phone so close to my bed... Then I remembered what had happened the day before and the arrival of Nero. I sighed, getting to my feet and going to answer the phone.

"Devil May Cry, sorry but we're not open yet, so call back later," I drawled, trying to stretch a little and keeping a yawn at the same time.

"Well, Dante, I didn't think you would answer at all after spending a night with the kid. Don't tell me you didn't even make it to the bedroom...?"

I knew that voice too well. "Trish, shut the fuck up and stay out of my private life. Besides, I have no intentions of doing anything besides work with Nero. You better make up your mind and accept it."

I heard her sigh discontently and prepared myself for a long scolding. "See, that's the problem with you right there, Dante. You really have no idea why it didn't work out neither with Lady or me, right? And don't you dare tell me it's because we're evil, 'cause you and I both know that's just an excuse," she said patiently. I was surprised that she wasn't yelling my ear off. "I know no one can replace your brother, Dante, but please... just try and get over it, already. It has been long enough, don't you think? Lady and I are very worried about you, you're a dear friend to us, even if we don't often act like we care. You know you can count on us to help you any way we can if you're in a bind, and that goes for if you need to talk, too. Okay?"

"It's a bit scary to hear you talking to me so softly, but, yeah, thanks. I'll keep that in mind, but I don't think I can get over his death. There's something that's preventing me from it, and although it may seem foolish, I feel like if I stop mourning him, I'll forget him and he'll disappear forever and-"

"Dante, give it up. I remember your fight with Nelo Angelo. We both know he can't still be alive, not while knowing that Mundus was still ruling the demon world when he disappeared in it. He's dead and he won't ever come back, Dante."

I flinched. Of course I knew that. I knew they were false hopes, even more after all that time. "...yeah, you're right."

I hung up and simply stood there. When that lowlife devil dropped my brother's amulet, it was clear what had happened to him. He had either been killed and Mundus had given the beast that amulet to nag me, or Nelo Angelo had really been my twin brother and I had killed him. In both cases, he was dead for good. Even if I went down into the demon world to search for him, that wouldn't do any good. I should have found a way to go after him after he fell from that cliff. I should have gone to his rescue.

["No one can have this, Dante. It's mine. It belongs to a son of Sparda."]

["Leave me and go, if you don't want to be trapped in the demon world. I'm staying. This place... was our father's home..."]

"Dante?"

I flinched as I heard Nero. I turned around and watched him descend the stairs. I couldn't move more than that. I was shocked at having been caught reminiscing, and the worse thing was that I was on the verge of tears. Again. The same as that time after I had come back from Temen-Ni-Gru with Lady. The same as every time the painful memory of the last time I saw my twin brother came to haunt me. The same as when Nelo Angelo had dropped his amulet. His half of the key to the demon world. I didn't want anyone seeing me in such a weak moment. It was my moment, my time to remember my twin brother. No one else had the right to impose themselves during such a moment. No one else had the right to try and be a part of it.

"Dante, you okay? Your eyes seem watery..."

I flinched again and tried to gain back my senses. It wasn't good to be like this with someone else around. I faked a yawn and stretched some more. "Must be your imagination. I was just yawning before you came down. Anyway, I'll go take a shower. If the phone rings, say we're not open yet. I never do business before taking breakfast. If you're hungry, well, you'll just have to wait some more. I'll call the local pizzeria when I get out of the shower."

He nodded in understanding and I marched almost mechanically in the adjoined bathroom, locking the door behind me. I let out a shaky breath as the pain racked my body. The pain of the loss of my other half. Shakily, I undressed completely and stepped into the shower, opening the hot water, letting the scalding liquid overwhelm my emotional pain before turning the knob for some cold water. The sudden change in temperature made me shiver, but it was good. It was good, this physical pain I felt as my demonic blood already went to work to heal my burns. The tingling feeling covering my whole body. I felt my powers steadily building, my frustration and emotional anguish feeding my Devil Trigger. I extended my hand to turn down the cold water, not enough to get burns, but too hot for normal people. Hot enough to hurt. Pictures of my brother when we were still kids started playing in my head as I slowly let my powers take over. My left hand rose to tease one of my nipples, while the right one went down to my cock and started stroking it. Oh, my brother and I hadn't only been twins. A little before our mother was killed and I lost him for the first time, we had been lovers for a while. It hadn't been for long, since it was mostly for experimenting, because we were always really close. We fought all the time and did all kinds of things to piss each other off, but there was no one closer to us. He had started it, and he had ended it. I hadn't minded, since I always had a strong libido and I liked women, but it had never crossed my mind to ask why he had ended it, or most importantly why he had started it.

Yet it's only now, many years after his disappearance and probable death, that such questions swarmed my mind. Now that it was way too late. Yet if he would come back, tell me he wanted me to stay by his side and never leave him, I would be unable to do anything but complying. If he wasn't trying to destroy the world, that is, in which case it would break my heart yet again. My breath hitched and I leaned my back against the wall, letting tears run down my cheeks and mingle in the hot water. The claws on my hands were already pretty prominent and I didn't have to look in the misty mirror to know my eyes were black and red instead of white and blue. The hand on my nipples journeyed down and to my ass, before I forced two fingers in. I moaned slightly, trying to keep my voice down since the kid was just beyond the door, as my claws tore a little at the flesh inside. I jerked a little harder at my cock and poked at where I knew my prostate was and bit my lip as I came, the last sight of my brother's face filling my vision as I blacked out for a minute. My power ebbed slowly away and I just stood in the hot spray of water as I waited for my legs to stop shaking. Usually, when I did such a thing, I would close the water as soon as I was done and wobble my way up to my room to take a nap. But I couldn't do that with Nero waiting for me in the next room. Sighing, I passed a hand in my hair and turned the water to freezing cold. I washed hastily, rinsed and when I finally stepped out of the shower to towel myself, I was shivering all over from cold and I couldn't feel any of my extremities. I dried myself off with the towel and dressed back in my earlier clothes. They were still fresh from yesterday, anyway. I left the bathroom just as sensation was coming back to my hands and feet and I welcomed the pain in silence.

Nero looked up at me from his place on the couch and I immediately noticed that his Devil Bringer was twitching. "What happened in there? I felt your power start to build up, then go back down," he said.

I shrugged as I made my way to my desk, unconsciously bending my fingers to test their flexibility. "Just thought of something very unpleasant that is none of your business. Do you have a preference in pizza? 'Cause I don't mind as long as it doesn't have olives on it," I said, picking up the receiver and dialing the number of my usual pizzeria.

"Anything without peppers, I guess...", he said, dumbfounded at my explanation, yet his Devil Bringer still wouldn't stop twitching.

I briefly wondered why, as I told the usual boy what I wanted, but thought I probably wouldn't know any time soon anyway. I plopped down in my chair and leaned back, ready for a small nap while waiting for the delivery boy to show up. It would take about fifteen minutes. It would take me five minutes to go there and fetch it myself, but they took their time as means to pressure me into paying my tab sooner and I was too lazy to go there. I heard the kid shift on the sofa, but didn't pay it much attention. I wouldn't change my way of life just because there was one more person in the shop. I didn't with Lady, I didn't with Trish, I didn't with Patty. So I certainly wouldn't do it now.

"What do you do all day on a regular basis?", he asked, fidgety.

"I take lots of naps. Sometime I go out to hunt some demons when I get too bored. Other times I get jobs and have to go out to kill demons in exchange for money, though I often end up doing it for nothing since I don't do what is asked of me because it's ratsy or the person asking for my help is asking for the wrong stuff or it's just a demon wanting to kill me but ending up being killed instead. Other times I stick my neck out to save the world, but that usually doesn't end with any reward other than loot that nobody would buy," I replied, scratching my cheek and thinking I might have to shave again soon. I hate shaving. It's tough and it's a waste of time since the hair will eventually grow back anyway, but I never liked having facial hair. I was lucky that it started growing only two years ago, but still... I would rather have remained beardless. After all, I've had hair down there since I was thirteen and that was all the hair I ever needed, besides those on my skull.

"Oh... How many times have you saved the world?", he asked me, obviously trying to occupy himself with conversation.

"Six times. Although, Lady would say it was really only four, saying a reborn Leviathan wasn't much of a threat and the pizzeria pyromaniac wasn't either, but still..." Meh, he wanted a distraction, I would give him one.

I heard him chuckle, just as I had expected him to. "Really?"

"Yeah. It was a few years ago, sometime between the Trish and Patty incidents. I had called to order pizza, as always, but then it didn't get through. I thought they might have changed their number in order to shake me off, you know, but when I finally went there, the building had burnt down to the ground. Many other pizzerias had had the same unfortunate fate, to I set out to find the culprit. Ended up it was the fault of some rich fatass who wanted to open a giant restaurant smack dab in the middle of town and he had wanted to get rid of competition even before having bought the terrain. Needless to say he was banned from ever coming back to town."

Nero chuckled some more, and three knocks at the door made me get up. I went and got the pizzas from the delivery boy, telling him to put this on my tab and that I would continue paying every time I get a pay. They couldn't exactly complain since I was their best client and ninety percent of every pay went to them. They had once asked and I had shown them. The other ten percent went to the other bills, such as the ones my two evil female "friends" kept on sending me. Plus, I sent a birthday gift and a Christmas gift to Patty every year. She'd been living with her mother since the last time I had saved the world. It was better that way, I didn't have to worry about her safety. Hey, I would never admit out loud to anyone, but I really was somewhat of a softie inside. The delivery boy left and I went to the couch and dropped the pizzas on the coffee table. I sat to Nero's right and opened a box, before taking a slice and leaning back to eat. I closed my eyes, thinking of what I would do afterwards. Maybe I could take him to a lair and we could get down and dirty. Hehe, not exactly in the sexual sense, but dirty with demon blood. I did say I didn't want to have sex with him and that wasn't about to change.

"Do you have a lover?", he asked me around a mouthful. I guess he really was hungry...

"You know how I live, do you think anyone would put up with the boredom just to have a daily piece of me? Not a chance. Lady and Trish didn't put up with it, why would anyone else?", I replied. "My only faithful 'partner' is my right hand, and we go way back."

"Then you haven't had sex with anyone in a long while?", he asked, surprised.

"Yeah, in fact the last time was a few years ago and it was really tasteless, involving lots of alcohol and probably some drugs, too. It isn't exactly a pleasant memory, but I was in a bad pass and I really needed some cash..." ...and I was remembering my brother way too vividly for some reason on that night, but the kid didn't need to know that. In fact, the cash had only been a little extra. I had only really done it because I needed some real good pain to forget, at least for a few minutes. My ears are still ringing from the scolding I got from Lady and Patty when they found me by the sidewalk in front of the shop. But it really had made me forget for a few moments.

Nero kept silent and I leaned forward to grab another slice. Many minutes later, as we were finishing the last pizza, I noticed that his Devil Bringer had stopped twitching. Though I couldn't dwell on it much as the phone started ringing. I stood with a sigh and went to answer.

"Devil May Cry," I said, the usual greeting when receiving calls during my "working hours". I frowned as all I heard was static. "Hello?"

I then heard it over the static. Rough breathing, like that of a giant beast. Or more likely, a giant and powerful demon. "There is no password, Dante... But I'm sure you'd like to know what goes on down in the rabbit's hole...", grunted the voice, a voice somewhat familiar, but that I couldn't exactly replace.

"Who the fuck is that? How did you get wind of the password?" Ok, so my password was "There is no password", but who cares about that?

A rough grunt, probably laughter, sounded through the static before the line died. I stared in disbelief at the receiver for a moment. The rabbit's hole? As in the one Alice supposedly went down in to get into Wonderland? What the fuck kind of craze was this? Though Alice in Wonderland business did remind me of stuff, but I couldn't exactly recall what. It was pretty weird, actually. As I put the receiver down, it started ringing again right away.

"Well, are you going to answer or what?", asked Nero, raising an eyebrow from his place on the sofa.

I frowned. Hadn't I just answered? What the fuck was going on? I picked the receiver up again and put it to my ear tentatively. "Devil may Cry," I greeted, quite unsure of myself. I didn't like this.

"You finally picked up, you damn slowpoke!", growled Lady's voice. "What took you so long!"

I clenched my jaw, already getting irritated. "Shut up, I answer whenever I want to!", I barked, trying to tell her she had chosen a real bad time to get all pissy on me. "What the fuck do you want?" I pushed the memory of the weird phonecall to the back of my head. She didn't need to know about it, anyway.

"Wow, you sure seem pissed. Lacking in libido or something? I sure do hope you're not venting your frustration out on the kid. Anyway, I called to see how things were going. You sure you wanna keep him?", she asked, her voice going back to normal.

"I'll do what I want and why would you ask how things are going?"

"Well, you know, with your outburst yesterday and everything..."

"Well I'm sure he'd thank you for your concern, but keep it to yourself. And aren't you on a mission out beyond Fortuna?"

"That was a trap to get a reaction out of you. Anyway, I guess I should hang up before Trish thinks we're getting lovey-dovey and all that," she said, before hanging up.

I threw the receiver back on its stand and went to get my trusty guns, Ebony and Ivory, and as I was about to take the last sword I had been using recently, I stopped. Light reflected off of Rebellion, hidden in a corner and accumulating dust. I decided to grab it instead. I could feel the kid's curious stare on my back as I did so.

"Where are you going?", he asked, and I heard him get up and grab his stuff to follow me out.

I cast him a glance before motioning for him to follow. I had to pass some frustration onto something. That last sentence Lady had said before hanging up puzzled me. Why would she care about Trish thinking we'd go back together? It made no sense to me, and so I pushed the matter in the back of my head to be analyzed later... "later" probably being "never".I didn't like to dwell on that kind of stuff for too long. But then I thought back on that strange phonecall. Alice in Wonderland, the rabbit's whole... yeah, I had read that story when I was younger, but that wasn't the extent of what it reminded me. Kind of like a real shitty job I did, but I couldn't remember clearly. Apparently, my memory was getting worse as time passed, which seemed kinda strange. The fact that I couldn't recall bugged me to no end, but as I trudged the streets with Nero behind me, I decided finally to push the matter back into its corner. I just knew I would find stuff that would remind me eventually. But for now, lack of understanding usually transformed into frustration before long, and I was frustrated enough as it was. Letting my demon-hunter instincts lead me, I walked down the streets silently with my new partner, because that was all the kid represented for me. My feet soon led us to a shady back-alley shop. The lights were off and there wasn't anybody around, which was actually unusual at this early hour. The bustle of the main streets echoed still on the walls around us, but there were no pedestrians here. Also, there was an awful stench in the air. I didn't think the kid could pick it up quite like I could, but it was there, and I knew what it was.

It was the kind of stench that usually permeated murder scenes and demon-controlled grounds. And I don't mean their territory, I mean their immediate area of action, like the perimeter around their nest or something. I raised my hand and tried the doorknob of the shop, only half-surprised when it turned and the door opened easily. Wasn't this kind of place usually guarded by spells? Curses? Or at least common locks? We walked in cautiously and looked around. Yep, this was where the stench of decay came from, no doubt about it. No wonder, too, with all those shelves filled with skulls of various creatures and other things I wasn't quite sure I wanted to meet alive. Yet it was unmistakably a demon's lair, or a shop selling stuff to call demons forth. Maybe even both, as in a demon's lair using this shop as cover. Though it seemed a little too intelligent for a demon to do that. They preferred to lurk and swarm in the dark and attack the unsuspecting victims. Scheming something elaborate wasn't what demons usually liked to do. Powerful beings liked simplicity more often than not. But I couldn't deny the facts: this wasn't a human's shop. Or at least, it hadn't been in a long while. These items were genuinely demonic and residual demonic aura filled the air all around us. Suddenly, movement caught my attention from an open doorway in the back wall. It was subtle and fast, like an animal scurrying in the darkness of the room beyond that doorway, but even with my heightened sense of hearing, I didn't hear the slightest sound other than my partner's breathing and slight shuffling of clothes as he bent down to take a closer look at the objects littering the shelves. I was sure I didn't have to tell him not to touch anything in case the trap wasn't on the building itself, but on the objects.

"Look around if you like, I'm gonna go have a look at the back room," I said, my voice low and absent. I glanced behind my shoulder and saw the kid nodding as he looked curiously at the items. I continued forward, deciding it might be a good idea to try and see if there was someone – or something – still alive in this damn shop. "Anybody here?", I hollered, making my steps heavier on the old wooden floor to signify my presence in case of an attack.

I was armed, after all, and I had many, many years of demon-hunting under my belt, so I wasn't afraid of some little demon's nest such as this. I had gone through much worse than a little back alley shop such as this one. Suddenly, I heard a loud cracking sound under me and the floor caved in and gave out under me. The fall was longer than I would have expected, but I landed not on stone or cement as I would have first thought. I crashed right in a pile of old, dusty crates and the first ones directly under me were pulverised, spilling their liquid contents on the other ones under them. I had hit the back of my head on the side of a crate and it took a while to recover, but as my senses came back to me, I realised one of my feet had gone through a crate and was stuck there. I struggled a moment and managed to get it out, wondering what this slimy substance that clung to me was, but at the same time knowing I probably wouldn't like the answer. I looked up and saw a hole through which filtered some light, most probably the hole through which I had gone through. It hadn't been a trap, it just showed that it hadn't been taken care of properly. But really, who builds buildings with first floors so easy to go through? The floor was made up of wooden planks supported by wooden pillars that went down on the stone floor below here and there and nothing else.

I saw Nero bending to look down through the hole. "Hey, you alright?", he asked, visibly surprised and maybe a little concerned.

"No worries, kid. I'm still in one piece," I said, looking around myself. That's when I saw the old corpse lying a few feet from where I had fallen. An arm and leg had been ripped off and the skull had a huge gaping hole on the side of it, from which the rotting brain had spilt many weeks earlier. "I think I found the guy who owned this place before the demons decided to take over... or what's left of him, at any rate..."

I froze as I heard noise behind me. Something like the sound of slimy matter scraping on stone or cement, a real disgusting sound. Nero seemed to hear it too. "What was that?", he asked.

I turned around and looked through the darkness, but even with my superior eyesight, that's pretty much all I saw after a couple of feet: utter darkness. "Don't worry, it's nothing I can't take care of. Listen, I can't jump back up, so I'll try finding another way. You look around and try to find light and a way down, alright? If you're in trouble, just scream, I'll come a-runnin."

"Same to you," he said, before disappearing from the hole. Then he reappeared. "Hey, Dante... Be careful, ok?" Then he left again.

I sighed, scratching the top of my head. "Don't say that! I'll feel like I owe you something! Geez!", I muttered, troubled.

It was the first time, really, that someone told me to be careful out of genuine concern and not just to mock me, though I really always told myself that my twin's same warnings were only half what he wanted me to think they were, and half genuine fear for my safety. I growled deep in my throat as I jumped down the pile of crates and landed on a stone flooring. This wasn't the time to be reminiscing about the past. I was in a dark place reeking of demons and I had difficulty seeing my hand when I extended my arm. Things could get ugly real quickly in these conditions, so I had to stay focused. I walked straight forward, using my senses to the maximum of their capacity. I could feel my Devil Trigger getting ticklish and that wasn't a good sign, but it could help me navigate in this darkness. At least I didn't have to extend my arms in front of me to feel for incoming walls, I would feel them. Just as I would feel any hostile presence in my immediate surroundings. Oh, sure, my senses weren't as sharp as they could have been, but they were largely sufficient for my needs. Of course, my brother always thought this way of thinking was a sign of weakness and on top of having sharper senses than me from the beginning, he had trained them a lot, but I didn't care. Even if we had been twins, we had always done everything we could not to be alike. Nobody had ever gotten our names wrong, as opposed to every other twins I had ever known or heard of. He had always been the viper preparing to strike, silent, deadly, quick, precise and elegant, while I was the brat boasting and getting underestimated because of it. The snake and the dog, both as dangerous as the other when petted in the wrong way. Our father had always been quite proud of that, and our mother was always proud to see that we cared enormously for each other, enough to be always watching the other and avenging a wrong done to the other, and making sure we didn't do things the same way. Twins, yet different in everything else than the looks and the blood. Me trying to save the world and him... No, I had to stop thinking about that.

"But you know you can't help but think about that," breathed a voice against my ear.

I jumped in surprise and turned around, Ivory already in one hand. But there was nobody there, and I didn't feel anyone. Yet that voice was so familiar... and at the same time I didn't recognize it at all. I kept the stance, ready to fire at anything I would feel out of place or any movement I would see out of the corner of my vision. I knew I wasn't alone, even if I couldn't sense anyone. I could feel that person or whatever it was laughing. But then the feeling went away and I told myself I had probably imagined it. I put my white gun back in its holster in my back and continued on my way. I finally came to a wall. I raised my hand to feel it. It was made of rough stones, just like the floor under my boots. I could feel a doorway on my right and I walked to it, keeping my hand on the humid stone. I came to a door made of rough, heavy wood. When I tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. I pushed and pulled at it, but nothing worked. I turned around and took a few steps, before rushing to it and giving it a good kick, but even that didn't do any good. Irritated, I went to take my guns but I stopped. This had the bitter taste of déjà-vu. Hadn't I done something quite like this many years ago? Yeah, in Temen-Ni-Gru... Then Jester...

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I felt the same presence as earlier laughing again, then I heard a lock turn and the door swung open outward on its own. There was something malevolent here. I knew it, and it made my human instincts cry to run away screaming while it made my demon blood boil. I could feel my Devil Trigger, impossibly ticklish already, start to take control slowly over me. My power was rising in tidal waves, but instead of getting pumped up by adrenaline like usual, it made my head hurt and I started feeling faint. Deciding to go on, I went through the door and came to a corridor stretching to both my right and my left. My body started walking to the right, seemingly on its own. I could hear the disgusting sound of slimy flesh on stone behind me again, but I couldn't turn around. My vision was becoming blurry and I could feel my demonic side itching for a fight, but somehow it was being restrained, though not by my will, and leading me somewhere of its own accord. I continued walking wobbily forward as the noise seemed to get ever closer behind me, but then I came to another closed door. My clawed and already scaly arm tore it off its hinges and threw it behind me and my eyes widened at what I saw in the small room beyond. Torches burning with purple fire illuminated the room from its four corners and allowed me to see what lay there. A diagram had been drawn on the floor with blood. By the smell of it, it was human blood.

The diagram seemed like some kind of mix between sorcery and alchemy or something, I never was quite versed in those things, with unreadable words and scribbles here and there. I could smell other blood, though, as my head started spinning and my feet took me to the center of the diagram. There, smack dab in the middle, had been written a name in blood that wasn't exactly human – though not exactly demonic either – and it had been crossed out with the same blood. My eyes widened as I understood exactly what this was. It was a diagram drawn during a ceremony to erase a demon's name. From the looks of it, this had been drawn some years ago and a special type of magic had been used to keep it from being worn out. As I fell to my knees, my legs feeling too weak to support me, I concentrated some more to try and guess at the name that had been erased. I had a bad feeling about it and I needed to know. When I made our the first letter of the name, more by sheer will of the mind than really my eyesight, I felt the tears coming to my eyes again as I tried to say the name I knew had been there. The name I hadn't noticed hadn't been pronounced in years. My twin brother's name. But all that came out of my mouth was a sobbing sigh, as I felt my consciousness slip away and at the same time I felt an enemy stopping a few feet behind me. For the first time since its awakening, my Devil Trigger was taking the entire control of my body without my consent, but I didn't care. After all, it was as if I had just learned that my other half, my dearest twin brother, had been taken from me a third time. Just as I felt my body transform fully and I was about to slip into the darkness of unconsciousness, I thought I saw a white rabbit hopping away at the edge of my vision, but surely I had imagined that...

I woke to the sound of voices around me. Loud, familiar voices, and the faraway noise of someone taking a shower. I wasn't feeling good at all, as if I had poison to drink or something, maybe even motor oil. It couldn't kill me, but it was making me sick. I tried getting up without opening my eyes and the world started spinning. The voices around me stopped and I felt hands helping me into a sitting position. I couldn't understand what they were saying and I didn't want to take the chance to open my eyes. I knew I'd feel even more sick. I needed to throw up, but first I'd have to make it to the toilet bowl. I tried telling it to them and they went silent, then I heard banging and more talking, and I was pulled up and whoever was there helped me walk a little, then helped me down and I felt the cool porcelain of a toilet bowl under my hands. And I threw up to my heart's content, ignoring the little bang I heard as soon as I bent over the bowl. A hand went up and down my naked back as a soft voice spoke near me. I still couldn't think straight or hear correctly what was going on around me, but I did manage to open my eyes. I immediately recognized my toilet, the one that was at the bottom floor of my shop. When my stomach seemed to settle down, I looked up at the person rubbing my back and stared a moment in disbelief. It was the kid, naked save for the towel wrapped loosely around his waist. He must have been taking a shower, for his bangs were still dripping wet and droplets of water were running down his torso and legs. He smiled at me and asked me something I didn't understand, though by the movement of his lips, maybe he asked me if I felt better. I nodded slightly, feeling strenghtless. He helped me back up and propped me against a wall, then I looked at him quizzically as he bent down and took off my pants, talking as he did so. I stepped out of them and watched as he took off his towel and put it aside, then helped me in the bath and opened the water. It felt good against my skin. I don't remember what happened afterwards, but when I woke up again, I was lying on the sofa, my head on someone's thighs, wrapped in towels. I looked up at the person who had lent me their thighs as pillow and met Trish's soft smile.

"How are you feeling this time, Dante?", she asked as she continued playing in my hair.

I looked around without answering her. "What happened?", I asked, not remembering much.

"Lady and Nero went back to that shop to investigate further. Remember? Yesterday, you went to a deserted shop serving as a demon's nest, you fell through the floor and got separated from Nero. He told us that when he found you, you were already unconscious and there was the corpse of a lamia near you. He also said he had felt your powers building up slowly, then stopping suddenly. He was panicked when we arrived after he managed to bring you here, take off your slimy clothes and put another pair of pants on you. Tell me what happened exactly when you were down there."

I closed my eyes again. "So it was a lamia," I said, remembering what had happened then. "Well, it played games with my mind as I was walking in darkness and for some reason, I kept thinking of my brother... and I started getting dizzy... my Devil Trigger got very ticklish, and then started taking over. And then I found..." I froze as I remembered. That last memory before blacking out seemed to me like as surreal as a nightmare.

Trish forced my head up so that I'd look at her. "What did you find exactly, Dante?"

"Say my brother's name, Trish," I requested. I had to test if what I thought was right or not. I knew I couldn't say his name, for it was a wound that opened up at every thought of him, but I had to know if I was right.

Trish opened her mouth, but all that came out was a soft breath. Her eyes widened. "Don't tell me..."

"Yeah, I found a seal of name stealing. Though I couldn't read the name, I thought it might be his. Seeing as you can't say it either, it confirms it: my twin brother's name has been erased." Back then I hadn't been able to think straight, but now that my thoughts were cristal clear, I could properly think of exactly what that fact meant. "Which means that my brother must still be alive somewhere."

For some reason, that fact tasted bitter on my lips. I thought having proof of my brother's survival would make me happy, but somehow it wasn't the case at all. I should have been excited, ready to go turn up every stone of the world in order to find him, but I felt reluctant to make the first step in meeting him again. The first time I lost him was the night Mundus killed our mother. At that time I had been sure he lived still, and I had felt this boyish excitement when my suspicions were confirmed by Arkham coming to my shop to invite me. But it hadn't been happiness that I would see him again very soon, it was the adrenaline of a good battle coming up. When he fell off that cliff after our last battle, grief had taken hold of my heart, for I had lost that undeniable feeling of knowing he was still alive, the one person who could give me a worthy fight. But it had been accompanied by the gut wrenching knowledge that I was now utterly alone, with my parents long dead, and my twin brother, my other half, being lost forever and probably dead... Lady had been my only anchor then, then she went away on her own when I could once again stand on my own, though shakily, and I met Trish. The mirror image of my mother, created by Mundus to trick and eventually kill me. A back stab as well as another lifesaver. Patty had managed to give me back the rest of my senses and I had been mostly fine, but then had come the Fortuna affair... I hated to admit it, but Lady and Trish had been right in saying that the kid painfully reminded me of my twin. But it wasn't just the white hair, the blue eyes or the demon powers and blood he had in him. In a way, I guess you could say I kept wondering what would have happened if mother had had only one son instead of twins. Nero... made me think of that, for he reminded me both of myself and my brother. And it made a wound in my heart fresh anew.

Trish frowned down at me, as she was probably knowing what was going on in my head. She had always been good to decipher every one of my thoughts. Just like I knew she knew being reminded of my mother was less painful for me, since my brother had been my lover for a time... "Don't think about that, Dante. Don't lose yourself in the past. This might as well be a trick to get to you, you know. And if your brother really is still alive, then stop mourning him. I'm sure you didn't get by regretting the past in the time after you first lost him. This situation is exactly the same, though your are older and you have friends you can count on. By the way, while you were unconscious, Nero kept worrying and he told us all about why he is here. We both know you're not uninterested, so why do you reject him?"

I closed my eyes, feeling tired all of a sudden. "I don't want him regretting anything... and besides, you might not have noticed, but my break up with both Lady and you shook me quite a bit. And if my brother comes back in the picture... I've been broken too many times, the next could very well be the one after which I won't be able to get mended properly. And he could be in danger if he got too close to me. Yesterday... I got afraid for the second time of my life. The first was when he let himself fall off the cliff... Promise me you'll never leave me alone, Trish... not just because you look like mom... you're... a precious friend to me..."

I think she whispered something back to me then, but I had already fallen deep asleep...

I woke up many hours later and immediately knew it wasn't Trish's thighs under my head anymore. Tensing up a little, I almost jumped in surprise when I heard a voice right over me. "This isn't a good idea at all, girls...", almost whined the kid, squirming a little under me. Oh, so those were his thighs, huh?

Soft, fast steps came over and I immediately recognized that smell. So, Patty had come to check up on me too, huh? I briefly wondered what had been the kid's face at seeing that little blonde phenomenon, but I quickly concentrated on still looking relaxed in order to spy on them. "What are you complaining about? Dante always sleeps like a log. You could drop him on the ground and I'm sure he wouldn't even twitch in his slumber. Besides, Trish and Lady told me you liked him, so what's the problem?", she said haughtily. Yep, this was little Patty alright. Although she had already grown into a teenager over the years, her character never changed. Rather, I think it straightened, and I caught myself almost pitying her mother...

"She's right, you know. Don't spit on opportunities to get closer to him! I didn't hear you complaining when he woke up all sick while you were taking a shower and you even made him take one," I heard Lady say from nearby.

Nero stiffened under me. "I wasn't thinking about that at the time! And besides, he was covered in sweat and I figured if he had had any of that stuff on him, a shower would help him recover some!", he countered in his defense. "And I couldn't very well see you girls do that!"

I heard a loud "toc" and figured Lady was playing billard. "What are you talking about? I've already seen him naked many times before. Sure, it was a while ago, but remember that I was once his lover. And Trish was too. We wouldn't care about seeing him naked again. And beside, it'd just be business matter." I heard another "toc" and I was sure the kid was speechless because of embarrassment. "Oh yeah, Patty, I heard you've been quite popular with the boys your age, lately."

"Meh, they're all acting like little boys, it's annoying," said the girl.

"I thought you liked them younger. At least, that's what Dante told me you said to him when you first met."

"I don't want to date an old man, but I don't want to have to babysit the one I'm going out with either."

"Were you aware that men usually liked their partners younger than them? It'll be quite hard for you to find a younger man who'd be interested in you."

"No way. The boys at school are always saying older women are better because they have more experience. Those interested in that, anyway. And Nero likes Dante, who's older than him by a good decade."

I couldn't keep quiet at that. "Hey, I'm not that old, you little pest," I growled, opening an eye to glare at her where she sat on my desk. I felt Nero stiffen again under me and briefly wondered if I should stay the way I was or sit up. After some consideration, he wasn't uncomfortable at all as a pillow. So I decided to stay like that.

Patty raised an eyebrow at me, then looked at Nero. "How old are you, Nero?", she asked.

"Um... I've just turned twenty-one last month...", he replied tensely.

Lady struck another ball and straightened up with a thoughtful look. "If I count correctly, you're actually right, Patty. He's past thirty. But he's half-demon so it doesn't count the same as it does with us three humans," she said, giving me one of those "I caught you there, idiot" looks of hers that never failed to anger me.

I huffed in outrage but didn't budge from my position. "Yeah, so what if I'm considered an old man by human standards? I'll outlive you all anyway, and I may just as well outlive your children, if you have any," I told them, not seriously thinking about it. After all, it was another painful thought. I would outlive all my friends. Well, except Trish, but still...

"Don't take it that way, Dante! You'll make Nero sad," teased Lady, smirking at us.

I felt the kid jump in surprise. "Me! Why would I be sad!", he countered, a little panicked.

At that moment, the doors opened wide and Trish rolled in with her motorcycle before turning the engine off. "Alright, people, I'm back with the food," she said, getting off and shutting the doors. She then turned to look at me and nodded. "Good, you're awake. I've bought your favourite, but it's only because only a few hours ago, you were still pale as the dead. And it's cheap. As for the others... Pasta for Lady, ramen for Patty, chicken for me and... pizza without peppers for Nero." She dropped two extra-large boxes of pizza in front of us as I sat up beside the kid and Lady sat on the other side of me, while Trish and Patty took the other side of the sofa, and she distributed the other meals. As I opened the box on top, I almost smiled as I saw it had neither olives nor peppers.

Lady arched an eyebrow at that. "I thought without olives was for Dante and without peppers was for Nero...", she commented.

The kid blushed beside me and I immediately figured he had been the one to order the pizzas. Trish also looked puzzled. "Yeah, I thought so, too...", she said, before glancing at us and understanding right away. "But at least now it explains why Nero insisted on eating pizza too although he's bound to only eat that as long as he'll stay with Dante..."

I shrugged. "I don't only eat pizzas. When I was on that luxuous boat with Lady, Patty and Morrisson, I didn't order any and I didn't complain."

The small blonde huffed. "Yeah, but that's because you can't eat pizza on a grand casino boat full of rich people and stay unnoticed," she countered easily, slurping her ramen.

"The only time he played cards decently, too," added Lady.

"Okay, so I eat lots of pizza and I lose often at games and bets. But you can't say I'm such a bad guy all over," I said, trying to defend myself some.

Trish giggled. "Yeah, you make women feel so safe they end up considering you a big brother and/or a bodyguard. Or the perfect boyfriend, but they don't want to date you exactly because you seem too perfect."

Patty looked up from her bowl of ramen. "I disagree on that point. He's too lazy and aloof. And he's not refined at all."

"Don't you get it?", said Lady. "That's exactly what they like about him: the bad boy air about him. But although there's that air about him, he's also full of mystery, he's never mean to women and he has that build that doesn't overwhelm them, but makes them feel safe. And his looks aren't bad either. Those women don't know him as well as we do, and I'm sure if you really think about just the first impression he gives to people who see him when he's not out battling devils, you'll see exactly what I mean."

"And he's a romantic at heart, the type they think they can expect a red rose from. Because a bouquet of flowers tends to get in the way and tells of feelings that may be too strong to be really deep. While a single red rose is just enough to ignite a woman's heart," added Trish. "It's not too passionate to be only the spark of the moment, but it does show genuine interest."

The girl's eyes were shining as she drank in the knowledge as if it was really water and not simply words. "You both know so much about it!", she squealed, before calming down and adopting a curious look. "Say, how was it for you both to date him?"

Lady thought about it for a moment as she put her empty plate on the coffee table. "Well... The sex wasn't lacking, that's for sure. But you've lived with him yourself, Patty. You know how boring he can be when he puts his mind into doing nothing for weeks on end. But the real reason why it didn't work out was that he didn't have any passion, his mind was always fixed on someone else. But it was to be expected, since it was right after he lost his brother."

Trish nodded. "Yes, his mind was always somewhere else. Just like now. Though it's true the sex was neither lacking nor bad."

"Very good, even," confirmed Lady.

Nero was blushing deeply beside me, but I didn't mind then talking about that. It stroked my ego in the right way. "Please, girls, could you change the subject?", he asked meekly.

Trish giggled. "Alright, then tell Dante what you found when you went down there with Lady."

The kid nodded, getting serious again. We had all finished eating and I sank comfortably where I sat. "Okay. Well, first off, we went to check on the lamia you killed in the room with the seal, and it just so happened it was a male one," he started off.

I stiffened upon hearing that. The lamia are demons with a human-looking upper body, and instead of legs they have a snake-like lower body. Female lamia are the most common, and they can take a take the appearance of a human and it's a real pain in the ass to get rid of them because they can also separate into thousands of little snakes. As for the male ones... they're pretty rare for some reason or another, but I did know there had to be one hell of a good reason for him to be without a swarm of females. I had heard tales of people finding such creatures and disappearing without a trace along with the lamia. Since the old fart who had owned that shop hadn't been dead for long, I could easily guess what had been the liquid in those crates. Male lamia spit was rumoured to be the equivalent of a shot of adrenaline to demons. For those who survived it, at least. And it was a deadly poison to humans. No wonder I had passed out and my Devil Trigger had taken control. Male Lamia spit is somewhat the equivalent of cum, though it is secreted all over the reptile part of their body while they sleep, or when they get in heat, once every two or three years. Female Lamia can't do that. It also explained the disgusting sounds I had heard down there in the basement.

"Judging by the amount of spit, he was in heat, and I believe that is what killed the shop keeper," said Lady. "He mustn't have been there more than two years. Also, we found corpses of females. Apparently, some did try to get to him, but they got killed for some reason. My guess is either he killed them, or the person he was in love with did it."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "'The person he was in love with'? What the hell do you mean?"

"We figured it was the most probable solution since it seems he didn't care about the females either way and he stayed in the basement willingly. We also checked the sales books in the back room and it was just as we had guessed after seeing it was a male lamia: the shop keeper was selling the lamia spit for a good dough, though we couldn't figure if it was demons who bought it or humans. One thing is for certain, there was someone else living there with the shop keeper. Tell him your theory, Nero," answered Lady.

I turned to the kid beside me. I had the feeling I wouldn't like what he was about to tell me. "I figured the shop keeper was the one who erased your brother's name, and he was the one living there, most probably the one the lamia was in love with. I checked the part of the floor through which you fell, and found out it wasn't where the wood was in its worse conditions. Everywhere else supported my weight and Lady's without any problem. Which means it was probably the lamia which made you fall." Yeah, now that I thought about it, I remembered that lamia could climb walls and hang from ceilings without any problem. Real pests. "He was also probably the one who forced you to think about your brother, though he was pretty young and probably mistook you for him. When I found you, you were passed out against him and completely covered in spit. It had even started dissolving your clothes."

He stopped abruptly as if he had wanted to continue but at the same time he didn't want to. I knew what he wanted to say. He had thought I was dead. Trish's words came back to me, from when I had woken up on her thighs. When she told me he had been really worried about me. Okay, so maybe he was really serious about it and his sincerity was starting to get to me, but I've never really been one to refuse when someone came to me, just like I've never held them back when they left. Suddenly, I felt very tired.

And it must have shown, for Lady put a hand on my back. "Hey, you look pale again. Maybe you should go to bed to rest some more. We'll tidy up and leave in a while, alright?", she said with a kind smile.

I nodded without a word, stood up and climbed the stairs. When I finally made it to my room, I undressed completely before falling face first on my bed and falling asleep.

I woke to a feeling of heaviness and discomfort. I had dreamt of the last time I had seen my brother, again, though this time it had been followed by fictional images of him being tortured and having his name stolen, calling out for me to help him. I knew it wasn't real, for he would never call out for help, and even less to me. Which was really what made me uneasy. In that dream, there had been a striped cat smiling at me with a sadistic glint in its golden eyes. Another disturbing reference to Alice in Wonderland. And as I opened my eyes to look at the ceiling of my room, the voice of the weird phone call came back to echo in my head. What had it meant by the rabbit's hole? I really didn't get it, but I knew it had to do with stuff that had happened in the past. I knew it did, though I still couldn't piece it back together, that event I couldn't remember had something to do with my brother. That was another certitude. Otherwise, why would it haunt my mind like that? I jumped in surprise as I felt something twitching on my stomach and looked down, almost expecting to see a white rabbit, but sighing as I saw it was only Nero's Devil Bringer. Although I was naked and he seemed to be too, though I couldn't really know since he was under the blanket with me, I knew nothing had happened between us. Lady, Trish and Patty had probably teamed up to force him to lay down in the same bed as me. I pushed him aside softly and crept over him since I had been on the side of the wall. When finally I stood bare in the morning light shining though my window, I glared down at my morning erection. Of course, although I had had a horrible vision in my sleep, this body part of mine couldn't help but react to the sight of my brother.

I sighed as I passed a hand through my hair and went to grab a pair of pants out of my wardrobe. I also grabbed my boots and jumped down the stairs directly in front of the sofa. Yep, I felt way better than before. All that spit must have been evacuated from my body over the night and it was a damn good thing. I went into the bathroom and opened the water so it would be hot, and stepped in the bath. I stood there, getting soaked and sighing in content as the heat delightfully hurt my skin. I let my Devil Trigger activate a little, as it had already been somewhat ticklish since my waking, and started jerking off almost violently. The feeling of my demon blood working to heal my skin even as the water continued to burn it slowly, the feeling of my power rising yet being kept in check though barely, the feeling of my claws on the sensitive skin of my backside, the memory of my twin bending over me from behind... I bit back a growl as it all contributed to building my desire up. My eyes almost rolled back in my head as I tasted the blood from my cut lip and I purred blissfully as I sped up my pace. I came with a groan of satisfaction and licked at the blood staining my left hand, then noticed that something wasn't right. I couldn't hear the water and I felt the presence of two demonic forces, one being upstairs and probably belonging to the kid, the other in the bathroom with me. I shut the water off and cursed myself for not thinking of bringing at least one of my guns with me, although I knew I could probably handle whatever had sneaked up on me long enough to get to my weapons. As I turned around to look at the bathroom, I saw the demon which had dared to step foot in my shop. It was a lean young man, completely naked, with violet striped pink cat ears and tail. He smiled at me from where he sat on the wall, and somehow his name came to my mind without any effort.

"The Cheshire Cat, I presume?", I said, stepping out of the bath and keeping alert for when he would attack.

The boy's smile stretched further and became eerie as it went all the way to his cheekbones. "My, the cat sure ain't got your tongue, huh? Oh, silly me, I'M the cat," he drawled, or should I say almost purred. He put his hands on the wall and jumped to the floor, all graceful and visibly light as a feather, his body so lean it was androgynous and should he have appeared to me clothed, I would surely have wondered if it wasn't a girl I had before me. But his voice, though slightly high pitched, and what was between his legs couldn't be anything but male. "You don't recognize me, do you? Or don't you remember my phone call? It's true that little, wonderful device tends to alter my voice, but here I am, son of Sparda. Do you want to know what goes on down the rabbit hole? You've already had a taste of it, but the snake had just escaped and had been kept by a puppet."

I didn't budge as he approached me, circling around me as his tail caressed slightly my upper thighs. He was a head smaller than me and I couldn't feel much power emanating from him, but I knew he was no bottomfeeder. Bottomfeeders are brainless and all look alike, yet I had never seen a demon like him. "What business do you have with me, kitty cat?", I asked him, crossing my arms and glaring at him as he stopped in front of me.

His creepy smile was still in place. "Oh, nothing much really. Just wanted to see what you looked like. Nice muscles. And I love that magnum you've got down there. Bet you've never seen someone like me. I'm unique. Or am I?", he said, as he seemed to split in two and suddenly there stood two of him in front of me. I arched an eyebrow and he disappeared while laughing, the both of him, and reappeared alone near the bath tub. He leaned down and gathered some blood that hadn't yet washed away and licked it off his fingers. "This tastes good... But I'm sure you'd like to know what goes on down in the rabbit's hole..."

A dangerous glint shone in his eyes, but then I turned around abruptly as the bathroom door flung open. Nero stood there, surprised, and when I looked around, I saw that the cat was gone, and the water was again splashing the tub with its usual noise. I was starting to get annoyed, what with that stupid cat playing with my life like that... I passed a hand through my still dripping wet hair and looked back at the kid. "What is it?", I asked him, as if I wasn't just standing there stark naked and seen an insane demon.

"Uh... I felt your power rising and thought I felt another demon down here with you, so...", he said, looking away. He had his pants on, though they weren't zipped or buttoned, and his Devil Bringer was twitching just as it had been the other time I had taken a shower.

I heard the cat's voice whispering in my ear suddenly. "That one can't resist the pheromones you secrete," it said, visibly hilarious. Pheromones? I didn't understand what it was saying. "When you play with this magnum of yours, of course, silly." I felt soft fur brushing against my belly and shivered. Yeah, now it was clear. After all, Nero himself was human, but his right arm was the arm of a demon.

I sighed as closed the water and went to get a towel. "Don't worry about it. It was nothing much. I can take care of myself," I told the kid as I dried myself. I then threw the towel in a corner to put my pants and boots on and I left the bathroom. "Get ready 'cause I'm taking you out for breakfast."

Nero arched an eyebrow at me as I opened a wardrobe and took out the red coat I always wore when I first opened my shop. "Out? Where?", he asked as he headed for the stairs, probably to go grab the rest of his clothes.

I smiled as I shook my old coat free of the little of dust that had accumulated over it and shrugged it on like I usually did back then. "That's a secret, but I can guarantee that it'll be way more friendly than that reeking old shop we went last time we went out. Oh, and if you plan on taking Red Queen with you, I suggest you find a way not to look too suspicious with it 'cause it'll be full of civilians over there," I told him, jumping upstairs to go fetch my twin guns.

Nero didn't voice any comment and just followed me in the room, where he proceeded to finish dressing up. After I put Ebony and Ivory in their holsters on my back, I went to my room's wardrobe and took out the guitar case in which I still kept Nevan. A smile tugged at my lips as I watched the kid struggle with one of his boots as he tried hurrying up. I felt good, for some reason. But that didn't mean I'd change my mind just to please everyone. I've never been the kind of person to comply to people's wishes just because they said it'd be better that way. I said I wouldn't take my relationship with the kid beyond that of work partner, and I'd keep my word. I was just stubborn like that. Nothing Lady or Trish could say or do would change my mind. When he was finally done, I led him outside and followed a path I had often trekked years before, when I was taking care of Patty part-time. As I entered the diner with the kid still in tow, I waved in greeting at the master and sat on one of the stools, putting Nevan down beside me as Nero sat on a stool near me.

The master finished his conversation with some of the patrons and walked over with a smirk. "Well, well. I was wondering when you'd show up again, Dante. How long has it been?", he asked. "You'll take your usual, I suppose?"

I smirked back at him. "Yeah, the usual. And it's been at least three years. Does Cindy still work here?"

"Yeah, she does. What'll it be for you, young man?", he asked, turning to Nero.

The kid stared at me. "What's this 'usual' of yours?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I turned my smirk to him. "Strawberry sundae, of course. Only thing I'll gladly eat, besides pizza. I've been living off of that for the last decade or two."

"That, and tomato juice," snickered the master good-heartedly.

I pouted, obviously going along with the flow. I was in a really good mood and I had missed this place. "Aw, come on. It's always better than having me drunk day in and day out, isn't it?"

Nero smiled. "Well then, I'll take the same as him," he told the master.

The old guy nodded, then went to work on our sundaes. "Cindy's not in at the moment 'cause she's pregnant," he explained. "Otherwise she'd probably be all over you for bringing such a young man with you."

One of my eyebrows ticked at that. Did I catch him meaning right? "She's still with the same guy, right? I'm surprised they're not married yet. Or is she still keeping herself open in case someone better comes around?"

"No, nothing like that. I get the feeling they've thought about marriage, but you know how the younger ones are these days..."

"Hey, I'm not that old, you know," I retorted.

"You're certainly older than this young man who escorts you."

"He's not an escort, he's my partner. And I'm still younger than you, old man."

"Partner, huh? You must have made some women weep with that," he commented, giving us our sundaes.

I frowned. So I really had been right. "Take it whichever way suits you best, I'm not gonna waste my time trying to prove a point you fail to see. Put those on my tab, I'll pay you when I next get paid. You know the drill," I told him, deciding I'd better ignore him and picking up the spoon to start eating.

The master laughed, but didn't add anything and simply went away to attend to other matters. Looking to the side, I saw Nero starting to eat in silence, apparently having missed nothing of my conversation, but keeping his comments to himself. I chuckled softly and also started eating away at my sundae. The kid gave me a questioning look, but I simply shook my head as a sign that we'd talk afterwards. When we were done, we left the diner and walked in the streets back in the direction of the shop.

Nero was watching me as he walked at my side. "Will you tell me now why you laughed?", he asked.

I smirked at him. "Nothing in particular. I was just wondering what you were thinking while you listened to my conversation, and I thought of something funny that happened in that place some years ago," I told him, crossing my arms behind my head.

The kid looked down at his feet a moment. "Well, I was thinking that you usually don't talk much with people."

I looked at him sideways with a raised eyebrow, a little surprised. "What are you talking about? I'm always talking a lot with the girls and Morrisson and even that stupid Enzo when I was meeting him."

He looked back at me with. "Enzo? Who's that? I know of Morrisson from what Patty told me of when she was with you, but I've never heard of the other guy."

I chuckled. "Of course you haven't. I stopped doing business with him just before the whole Temen-Ni-Gru affair. He was one drunkard, Italian asshole I'd never deal with again. The fucker used up all the pains on alcohol before I even got back from the jobs, more often than not. And the jobs he got me were usually pretty shitty or questionable. There was even one time I had to find a lost kid, though I don't recall that one clearly," I told him as we got back in the shop.

I froze as soon as the door closed behind us. Someone was there, probably some demon, too. I motioned for him to stay quiet, to which he nodded and also got into fighting stance. I reached behind me to grab the case and unzipped it to free Nevan. I could tell the kid was perplexed by my choice of weapon, but a guitar in a guitar case was less suspicious when you get caught unwillingly than a sword in the same case. I could feel her getting excited at the idea of finally being used again to fight some demon or another after all those years. Ah, yes, that encounter had been something pretty good back then. She was just the type of woman I liked, who knows exactly how you think and exactly how to act and what to say to get along with it. Unlike two evil women I knew who insisted on sending most of their clothing bills to me under the pretext that I never made them any present. Accusation to which I defend myself by rightfully reminding them that if they'd stop, maybe then I'd give them gifts. Patty had understood that quickly enough. I jumped in surprise as a grin appeared in midair right in front of me. That's right, only teeth making one heck of a smile.

But I knew that smile and I sighed as I half relaxed. "So it's you, kitty cat. I had wondered where you had run off to," I said, putting my free hand on my hip.

The grin turned upside-down and a giant, purple striped pink cat appeared gradually around the grin. He was a cat, that was for sure, though all lean and gracious even if he was the size of a grown Border Collie. Or maybe a Shetland Shepherd... I really wasn't that good with dog species... "How do the humans say this... oh yeah! Welcome home, son of Sparda! I really wish you would give me another nickname, you know. I've grown quite fond of you and I think I might just adopt you. I see you're starting to remember. Say, you still haven't told me if you wanted to know what goes on down the rabbit's hole. You mind feeding me? I'm starving."

I felt Nero getting uneasy behind me. "Dante, what's that thing hovering two meters above the ground?", he asked.

I went to my desk and put Nevan against it before plopping down in my chair and putting my feet on my desk. "My new cat, it looks like. More precisely, he's the Cheshire Cat. You know, from Alice in Wonderland. You can guess it right away at the way he talks and by his appearance."

The kid jumped in surprise as the cat disappeared and reappeared right beside him in the blink of an eye, though this time in his human appearance. "Are you really going to keep it?"

I crossed my arms behind my head as I leaned back, ready to take a nap. "Why not? I think he's interesting. Although I have my doubts as to whether he'll be a good house cat or not, so far he hasn't proven to be any threat at all. So I say, if he's to try and kill me, might as well keep an eye on him instead of kicking him out and then chasing him when I have to. And I'm interested in that Alice in Wonderland business which reminds me of something I can't quite recall."

Suddenly, I felt weight on my stomach and since I was only on two legs of my chair, it almost made me fall back, but I managed to regain my balance in time and looked down at the fur ball there watching me with its two yellow eyes. "Is it nap time? I love nap time! I'll be a good cat. Can I eat something? What are you going to call me now that you're MY master? Can I nap on your stomach? Will you scratch behind my ears? I'm hungry! Will you give me a collar? Who is that person standing there? Is he going to nap with us? I like him too! Are you his mate? What is there to eat?"

I sighed in frustration. Okay, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all to keep him. I hate when other people have a bigger mouth than me. But nonetheless, I couldn't deny I really did find him interesting. And I never did have a pet before. "That guy over there is Nero, my partner, not my mate. Yes, it is nap time, but he will do whatever he wants to do as long as it doesn't bother me. Now move from my stomach or I'll think about letting you starve to death. What do critters like you eat, anyway? Milk?"

Nero sighed as he relaxed and started in the direction of the kitchen. "No milk for grown cats, it can give them diarrhea and I don't think you want that. Rather, they're carnivorous," he said as he searched through my kitchen for... something.

I raised an eyebrow as the cat got off of me. "How do you know so much about cats?", I asked him.

"I once had a cat, and Kyrie loved them," he said, from the back of the kitchen. I heard the sound of a can being opened and smelled tuna. I opened my eyes in surprise and turned in his direction as he came out of the kitchen. "Now, the cat has been fed, though I suggest you start investing in fish, meat or cat food. What next?"

I stayed silent as I pondered which one was cheaper, though I really had no idea how much cat food or canned fish cost... I'd have to go and see. Then again, I could ask the kitty cat what he preferred and just buy that, as I did with myself. Yeah, I'd probably do that. I closed my eyes again, relaxing in my chair. "Well, now it's nap time. Do you really have to ask?"

I heard his clothes shifting a little and figured he had shrugged, then heard him go and plop down on the sofa, apparently complying to my lifestyle. A little later, I felt the cat come onto my desk and curl up near my feet, but I didn't move otherwise than to give him a little more space. I fell asleep quite easily and in my sleep I was back to the time before I fought Mundus, before my brother messed up with the Temen-Ni-Gru, before my mother was killed. He had always been fond of books and back then I would sit beside him on his bed, shoulder to shoulder, our heads against the other, and he'd read me books. Mom had taken great care into making sure we would be able to get by on our own, teaching us how to read, how to write, to count and calculate, and everything she thought would be useful. We hadn't yet been old enough for her to entrust the preparation of the meals to us, but we often aided her and stood nearby to watch. Our father had already, back then, disappeared a long time ago and no amount of nagging would make mom tell us if she even knew if he was still alive or why he left. In my vision, the book my twin was holding as we sat there was Alice in Wonderland. We had always been quite mature for our age, but for some reason that book is the only one I remember from the countless ones my brother read to me. I've never read a book after Mundus's attack. How I loved that time spent with my brother... Every day, he would read to me and no one would bother us... and when we grew older and he decided to try taking our relationship further, we had often done it while he was reading to me, to try and avoid mom's suspicions. I never did find out if she had seen through our act or not, but if she had, it hadn't bothered her. I closed my eyes as I simply listened to the sound of his voice, knowing full well this wasn't real. It couldn't be real. I couldn't even whisper his name, even in this vision I saw in my sleep. As I continued listening to the sound of his voice instead of the words he was saying, I noticed our surroundings beginning to change.

"There's no 'wonder' mood at all. This is a chilled out wonderland."

I heard my voice say, though I hadn't been the one to talk. My twin's bed suddenly got surrounded by darkness, which gradually got replaced my the inside of some kind of manor. I looked around, my heart beating faster by the minute and my head starting to hurt like hell. I didn't like this. I didn't like this one bit, but I couldn't move the rest of my body. Looking down, I saw my brother and I were both being retrained by the legs of a giant spider. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and the spider's legs left us.

"Sorry. I hate spiders. They've too many legs."

My voice again. I could almost remember the time I had said that, but it was as if something was preventing me from really remembering. I cried out as my brother suddenly vanished.

"It's a tea party! It's a tea party! Tea party! Tea made of blood... A scone made of bone... We can have a tea party! We can have a tea party!"

Cried gleeful voices all around me. The pain in my head was getting unbearable, I was starting to panic for no apparent reason and I was starting to hurt the same as when I thought about my brother too much on top of that. Couldn't I just wake the fuck up!

"Even though he's a freak of nature himself. His scone won't be g-good. A-Alice's is better after all. It's white, soft and h-high quality. If it is b-bad quality our t-tea party would have been w-wasted."

Alice! Why the fuck did that fucking name remind him of more than just the damn book! Why couldn't I remember! Why was my brother mixed up in all this! I closed my eyes tightly and grabbed at my hair with both hands.

"You showed up."

I froze, my eyes wide upon the stone floor as the rain pelted down on me. I looked up, dropping my hands at my sides and staring wide-eyed at my brother, though I couldn't see him clearly, unlike the real scene that had happened years before. The moon was hidden by the dark clouds and there was neither any torches or lights or even lightning to give us light. I suddenly noticed that Rebellion had appeared in my hand and as he lunged at me, it was all I could do to block the blow that would otherwise have been very painful, though my instincts were more to thank for than my quickness of reaction. My mind was still frozen. We were locked like that, our blades pressed together and making sparks, then he turned his wrist and Rebellion flew out of my hand, and he stabbed me in the stomach with Yamato. I gasped as my body was racked in pain. Not just physical pain, but emotional one. My old wound that had never closed up was made fresh again and I gasped, suddenly unable to draw breath. He grabbed the back of my neck to keep me standing a little longer, taking his face nearer to mine, brushing his lips teasingly against mine...

"Why do you refuse to gain power? The power of our father Sparda?"

I shivered in excitement and agony as he turned his sword a little and breathed against my ear.

"You always were the weakest of us both, my dear brother."

I woke up in a sweat and hands upon my shoulders kept me against the floor. I was frantic, I felt sick, I hurt all over and I had difficulty breathing for some reason. The one holding me down kept saying something over and over, as another figure just stood aside, motionless. I suddenly recognized Nero, as he kept calling my name, saying it's alright and it's over and it was just a nightmare. I calmed down slightly, recognizing the kitty cat in his human form behind the kid, visibly really worried. Yes, it had just been a vision in my sleep. An awful vision, true, but a simple vision nonetheless. Dreams and the like cannot harm you directly. As I started breathing correctly, I pushed the kid aside, got up and stumbled to the bathroom, not even bothering closing the door all the way. I needed to throw up and some real pain. Some good, real life pain on my physical body. I opened the hot water of the shower, undressed completely and stepped in the bath, hissing as the scalding water hit my skin. Yes, I was alive, I was real. What had just happened hadn't been real. It had been... how had my brother put it again...? Oh yeah, a projection mixing souvenirs, fears and/or hopes for the future. Nothing more. A scene my brain had come up with of its own accord. As I stood under the water, my skin getting burned faster than it was getting healed, gradually calming down, I could feel my power building up and my Devil Trigger becoming ticklish because of the healing the demon blood in me was doing. My nails became claws and I could feel myself changing slowly. I clawed at my chest, revelling at the fact that my whole skin hurt so much the fact that I was breaking it didn't even hurt. It even felt good. I turned the water to freezing cold and growled at the sudden change of temperature, hurting myself even more as I started shivering from the cold. I felt good. It hurt so good. My head was empty of any and every thought and no image came to me. I could almost say I was at peace, even as I could feel my consciousness slipping away. Hands grabbed me, warm hands, and pulled me out of the bath. The water stopped somewhere in the distance. I didn't resist at all when a towel was wrapped around me and I was taken away, then up some stairs and finally put down on what I guessed to be my bed. I vaguely thought about the fact that I would have to wash the bed sheets since all my dead skin would fall on it as I healed from my burns. I stayed motionless for many minutes, gladly letting myself stay in this thoughtless state. When I opened my eyes again, once I was almost finished healing and I could feel again, I saw Nero with a worried and sad expression.

"What happened, Dante?", he asked softly. "Why did you do that to yourself?"

"Physical damage helps to forget emotional and psychological damage, and it also heals way faster. It's the only solution I found to stay sane after all these years," I answered, uncaring that this was the first whole truth I had told about this case. "I told you about the last time I had sex, right? Well this is the same, except I don't have to find a sadist who won't kill me or try to keep me. Not that he'd succeed, anyway, but you get my drift."

"What kind of trauma do you have that you have to hurt yourself this much to forget for a little while?"

"The loss of my twin brother."

Nero stayed silent a moment, probably turning the information in his head to examine it under every possible aspect. Of course he knew I had lost my brother, since he had his sword. And if he hadn't fully known it, he must have gotten one hell of a good idea of it. But to him it probably just was the loss of a family member, which in itself is quite a hard blow. But we were not only talking about a brother here, we were talking about my twin brother, my other half. The being who was meant to be one but ended up being two. The two sides of the same coin, the dough and the tomato sauce on a pizza. We were meant to be together, though opposed, for the whole of our lives. Yet I had lost him four times. The first when Mundus attacked our house and killed our mother. The second when he fell off that cliff in the demon world after the Temen-Ni-Gru episode. The third when Nelo Angelo dropped his amulet. And the fourth when I had found that diagram under that fucking shop. My brother had been taken from me those four times. I had suffered the loss of the other half of my soul those four times. When I was younger, I hadn't really cared. I had truly resented my brother for betraying my own ideals, but now that I was older, I understood that it had been meant to happen. If I was good, he was bound to be bad. Just like I took more after our mother's human side and he took more after our father's demon side. I saved the world, not the humans as they are, and made sure to protect the fragile balance between light and dark while he could care less about other and had always stayed true to the one thing you could be certain about a devil's character: lust for power. Always more power. And the power of our father, the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, the one who had single-handedly protected the human world from demon invasion, who had killed the Kind of the demon world. The power which still lay dormant in the depths of the demon world ever since it had been sealed there when our father closed the doors to the demon world for good. I didn't care for power all that much. I was already powerful enough without seeking to become stronger. My strength along kept me running in my escapades and world rescue and that was all I wanted. Though it had been the opposite with my brother. I still couldn't really understand why he would even want such power since he was already mightily powerful as he had been back then.

The kid's voice interrupted my train of thought. "This isn't like you, Dante. The Dante who fought me back in Fortuna wouldn't get this down and suicidal over something like that. If you don't want to tell me, there's nothing I can do to force you into saying it, but I'd like you to at least let me comfort you a little," he said, and I saw his cheeks coloring themselves as he looked away, most probably embarrassed by the words that had left his mouth.

He was sitting beside me on the bed, as I lay, naked, under the covers. I could feel them on my sensitive skin. Again, I noticed that his Devil Bringer was twitching, even as it rested on his knee. "I don't want to have sex with you, kid. I thought I already said that before, and I'm the kind of stubborn guy who very rarely changes his mind," I told him, my voice low, but with an edge I had almost forgotten. The kind of edge I always used in my younger days, although I was far from old. The kind of edge I kind of lost over time after my brother let himself fall off that cliff.

Nero's eyes shifted back to me with surprise, and his lips twitched into a small smile. I could almost tell what his mind was thinking. I knew he'd be ready to talk about it over and over again if it contributed to making me feel better. If it could bring back the cockiness and recklessness that I had somehow lost, what he had really loved about me and missed the most. Oh, I knew what his kind was and why it hadn't worked out with his girl. What he needed in his relationship was challenge and action, he didn't want it easy, but he wanted whole-heartedness. His little doll back in Fortuna wouldn't have been able to tame the wild side in him that had woken up with all that had happened, no chance in hell. She was too soft, too vanilla. To him, I was the spiciness you feel on the back of the tongue after eating a slice of pizza, before you drink something to cool it down. But that wasn't all of me and that was exactly what had attracted him to me, what had made him leave his little lost town of Fortuna, where he didn't feel fortunate at all anymore. Yet in his expression I could read the disappointment of being turned down. He wanted me, but he knew he could never force me. I was stronger, more experienced, and above all he didn't want to hurt me, at least not enough that I'd cringe. He was too much of a nice guy. Had I been in his position, in another state of mind as the desperate one my twin's disappearance had left me in, I'd have punched the lights out of the fucker refusing me.

The light in his eyes dimmed after a short moment and once more, he looked down and away. "Why are you refusing with such vigor? Do I repulse you? Is it something I've done?", he asked me quietly over the silence reigning in the shop.

"If you repulsed me, you'd already be dead. And if it was something you did, I'd have kicked your ass back to Fortuna myself way before now. I just don't want to do it, kid. By the way, what's the cat doing? It doesn't feel right for the shop to be this quiet," I said, changing the subject. Because I couldn't quite explain why I didn't want him, even to myself. But I had a right just to not want to, didn't I?

His Devil Bringer clenched into a fist and he stood up, avoiding to look in my direction. "Seems like he found some paint and canvases. He's downstairs painting who-knows-what that's going on in his crazed little head. Oh, and while you were out, I went and bought him some food," he said bitterly, starting to walk towards the door.

This didn't feel right. Something was amiss. And although I couldn't put my finger on what it could possibly be, I felt like I had to tell him something, anything, before he stepped out of my room, or something terrible would happen. The same kind of feeling that had taken hold of me when I defeated my brother down in the demon world and he had started inching towards the edge... "Don't you dare go disappearing on your own, kid," I growled, anger suddenly flaring up in me at the thought of losing someone else. I somehow felt like his older brother, for fuck's sake, and it was suddenly stirring things in me that were too painful to recall, but they stirred nonetheless and it hurt. Fuck it hurt and I wanted it to go away, but upon seeing that small light in the depths of his eyes when he stopped and looked at me over his shoulder, I knew physical pain wouldn't cut it anymore. If I hurt myself even more, I'd lose him. I'd lose him and he'd never come back. For the first time since I met him, I realized I needed him. "Don't you dare leave me all alone. I may not be willing for 'us' to be more than friends and business partners, but I'm sane enough to know I'd rather kill myself than be left alone once again."

I hadn't realised it before then, but his mere presence was mending my shattered heart, little by little. I know, it's really cliché, right? Yet the look he sent at me upon hearing those words... I can't exactly put it into words, but it was like a balm over my bleeding wounds. A miraculous effect all that physical pain had never done to me before. I wasn't alone, and it felt good to know it. Fuck, dude... I'm talking like a love-struck woman here, but it really felt like the presence of your best friend after you broke up with that one girl you would have bought the moon for. Just his mere presence at your side, with or without the alcohol, helps you feel better. Or maybe like chocolate to a sad chick. Yeah, that's it. That's what he was to me at that moment: the one thing that kept me together. If words had been spoken after that, it would have ruined it for me. But he didn't say anything, came back to the bed and lay down beside me, and for the first time in forever, I slept like the dead, a dreamless, but refreshing sleep. Oh, sorry, visionless. Because like I said, I don't dream because I don't give a fuck about the future. And it was proven even more true then, as he watched me fall asleep, since I didn't want the present to change into the future or the past. Yeah, I can get pretty cheesy at times. My brother often complained about it. About the cuddling, the whole holding hands thing, little pecks on the lips when in public and nobody's looking. All that cute stuff kids do when they think they're in love. My twin brother was always the rougher, more lustful one, and although I must admit I liked it back then when he took me raw, I liked it to be slow sometimes too. Maybe... that's exactly the reason why he decided to end it. One of the reasons why he calls me weak. But is it really being weak, putting your life into someone else's hands and expecting them to do the same? Okay, yeah, maybe I spent too much time around those three evil women...