Back again on Friday, as promised! Thanks to those who have thus far read my story, and a bigger thanks to those who have reviewed it. :)


"And the finishing touch," Dante said, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

He carefully leaned back and observed his work. The panel would hold the roof for another few months, at least. Until then, the old man would be okay.

He rose to his feet, brushed off his hands, and jumped to the ground level, stirring dust beneath his feet. The old man, Mr. Barnes, was balding except for the white patches of hair on the sides of his head. He smiled at Dante through an almost-toothless grin, clapping his hands together with pure joy. "It looks wonderful, my boy!" he said, chuckling.

Dante folded his arms across his chest and beamed proudly at his handiwork. In the wake of Mundus's raging anger one month ago, much of Limbo City had been physically destroyed – buildings had crumbled, homes had been toppled, and many innocent humans died.

But the few that had survived were under Dante's watchful eye – even if that meant fixing a leaky roof on a Friday afternoon.

Sure, it wasn't his idea of "protection." He would have rather been fighting off hoards of demons, getting a workout in while subsequently defeating the underworld rogues, but in the end he knew he should be thankful for the dry spell. If there were no demons, then no new Demon King had risen up in Mundus's place. Exchanging demon slaying for whatever silly job he was needed for was definitely preferred.

"That should hold off the leaks for another few months," Dante said. "Is there anything else you need us to do?"

He frowned and scratched his bald, shiny head. "Well…I don't think so. But…what's your lady friend doing inside?"

Through the front windows, they could see Kat inside the house busily spray-painting her way from the living room, into the halls, and through the back bedrooms. Dante knew what she was doing, although it seemed like a rather unnecessary precaution.

"She's, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck. "She's checking for leaks in the woodwork. You know…she's got some kind of special spray that compresses the leaks…"

The old man continued to frown and scratch his head. Dante didn't blame him – even he didn't buy it. "You know what?" he said, advancing towards the house. "I'll just see how much longer she has left. I'll be right back."

He pushed his way through the front door as Kat finished spraying an artistic glyph on the wall. The orange paint glistened beneath the sun's rays streaming in through the window.

"Uh, Kat," Dante said. "I know old Barney is…well, old. But he's not so old that he'll miss a giant glyph painted on his wall."

She turned and faced him with a smile, shaking her head. She quickly folded up the glyph stencil and shoved it into the tube slung across her back. "Just give it a second."

Dante sighed quietly and folded his arms over his chest, staring at the glyph expectantly. After about thirty seconds, the glyph disappeared entirely. "Well, that's impressive," he said. "New spell?"

She glanced down at the can of spray paint in her hands. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to test it out. The demons may be gone, but the humans should still be protected."

Dante nodded, glancing over the room as the other glyphs and lines she'd painted continued to disappear altogether. "Good thinking. And this will keep them out of the house?"

"It sure will," Kat nodded. She squeezed Dante's arm, grinning up at him as she exited the house. "You're all set, Mr. Barnes," she said to the old man. "Like Dante said, I was just checking for leaks. The house should last through a hurricane now."

"Wonderful!" he said, his toothless smile returning. "If you'll just wait while I get my check book…"

Dante waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. It's on the house this time."

He frowned. "Are you sure? That was a lot of dangerous work you did…"

"I'm sure," Dante answered. "Anything for you, Mr. Barnes."

The old man smiled again, placing a hand on both Kat's and Dante's shoulders. "You two must be angels to do something like this."

Dante and Kat exchanged amused grins. "Something like that," Dante chuckled.

"Can I offer you some food or something to drink before you go?"

"No, thanks," Dante replied. "We've got some more stops to make before the day is over."

"Well, you just come by anytime and take up my offer," Mr. Barnes said.

"We'll be sure to do that," Kat returned.

They watched as the old man carefully shuffled into the house, sealing himself in the safety of his demon-proof home. Kat exhaled and folded her arms over her chest. "Who would have thought we'd give up demon slaying and scheming for fixing an old man's leaky roof?"

Dante sighed and collected his tools. They made their way towards the car, both tired and ready for the day to end. "We've become regular housewives."

"Except that we don't cook."

"And we don't clean."

Kat laughed. "Who's our next patient?"

Dante fished a piece of paper out of his pants pocket and examined the scribbles. "Sarah Johnson," he replied. "She's actually just around the block."

They climbed into the car and turned on the ignition, heading down the street for their next customer. Kat swam her hand through the wind outside the car window. Her eyes were cloudy, like they usually were when heavy thoughts weighed down her mind.

"What's up?" Dante asked.

She faced him and forced a smile. "Nothing. Why?"

"You've got that look on your face," he said. "The one you have when something's bothering you. What is it?"

She sighed and pulled her hand inside the car. "Do you ever wonder if maybe our work isn't quite done yet?"

Dante glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

She stared down at her hands and shrugged. "I mean…Mundus is gone, sure. But that just means that the Demon King's throne is open – open to anyone."

Dante stared forward at the road. "I try not to think about it. We've been good for a month. Hopefully it lasts."

Dante had become humanity's watchful protector, which meant doing whatever he had to do to keep the humans safe – from fixing leaky roofs to preventing a new Demon King from rising. And then there was, of course, the other loose end: Vergil.

Each day that passed without any kind of attack or threat made Dante that much more nervous and wary. Vergil was still out there somewhere, and he had been set on gaining power by any means. Dante couldn't afford to underestimate him.

But Vergil was still his brother, after all. Sure, they'd gone their separate ways, but that didn't mean Vergil would try to kill him – right?

"And there you go," Kat interrupted, "drifting off into space."

Dante shook his head clear. "Sorry," he muttered. "I'm just thinking."

"Care to share?" Kat asked gently.

He clutched tightly at the steering wheel and drew in a silent breath. "It's been a month since we defeated Mundus," he said quietly, "and Vergil hasn't shown up anywhere."

Kat looked up at him and blinked. "Are you worried about him?"

Dante shrugged and stared at the road. "Concerned, more than anything."

She nodded and gazed out the window. "You already defeated him once," she said quietly. "If he came back, you could do it again."

"That's not the problem," he muttered. A dull ache stretched across his heart. He tried to ignore it – like he always did – but he couldn't do it. He sighed and leaned back into his seat, forcing a smile. "Never mind," he said. "Forget I mentioned it."

Kat stared at him with sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Dante," she said softly.

That was all she needed to say. She knew exactly what was bothering him. He shrugged, trying to play off his weak moment. "We did what we had to do."

She stared forward at the road. "I…I guess I miss him, too. When he was good."

Dante scoffed. "When he was good," he echoed. "If that's the case, then I guess I never really knew him."

She looked up at him, her eyes heavy and sad. He hated bringing it up – it seemed to bother Kat more than it bothered him. After all, Vergil had raised her, in a way. He had saved her from her father and the demons, had taught her how to survive. She had trusted him, and for what? He had turned on her like it meant nothing.

Just like he did to me, Dante thought.

He waved a dismissive hand at Kat and forced a chuckle. "There's not much to do on Fridays, and it gets me thinking. I should probably stop that."

Kat managed a small smile. "That might be a good idea."

Dante glanced down at the piece of paper in his hands, pulling up to the driveway of a small, rundown house. "Here we are," he said. He switched off the ignition and frowned. "Looks like this place got the short end of the stick," he muttered.

"Well, isn't that why we're here?" Kat asked, grinning as she stepped out of the car.

With a tired sigh, Dante closed the car door and followed Kat up the steps to the house. He rapped loudly twice, only to find the door ajar. It creaked open to reveal a damp, musty smell hanging in the air and dust settled over the overturned furniture.

"Uh…hello?" Dante called tentatively.

"Dante," Kat said nervously, "no one has been here for a while."

"Then who called us for help?"

Kat drew her spray paint and took a step back. "I don't know. But I have a feeling we shouldn't be here."

Dante didn't feel the same way. He pushed the door open and entered the house, pressing his nose into the crook of his elbow as the nauseating odor of rot met his nose. He and Kat inspected the house for any signs of life, but the house was completely vacant.

At least, that was what they thought – the sound of a child crying met their ears, distant and almost inaudible.

"There's a child in here somewhere," Kat said. She pocketed her spray paint and hastened across the front room and down the hallway.

Dante sighed. "All things creepy start with a kid," he muttered. But he followed after Kat anyway.

They made their way down the hall and into the darkness where the child's cries became louder. Kat pushed open a bedroom door to find a heap of mess and disoriented furniture barricaded between them and the little girl.

The little girl sat hunched in the corner of the room, her face buried in her knees. She gasped and lifted her head upon hearing the door creak open, her cheeks streaked with tears and her eyes wide with fright.

"It's okay," Kat said gently. "We're here to help you. Are you hurt?"

She blinked and sniffled before shaking her head.

Kat took a step forward and extended a hand. "Why don't you come over here, and we can try to help you?"

The girl blinked again, as if she didn't understand. Finally, she carefully rose to her feet. Her long, dark hair hung around her face like an ominous curtain, and something in her eyes wasn't quite right.

"Kat," Dante murmured, "are you sure this is a good idea?"

Kat glared at him. "She's a little girl, Dante. What harm can –?"

The little girl stepped over the broken glass and overturned dresser, reaching for Kat's hand. Kat gasped and startled, staring down at the child's hand. She met the little girl's eyes, her own wide with concern.

For a moment, they remained frozen hand-in-hand, their eye contact strong and unwavering. Dante rubbed the back of his neck. "Is everything okay?"

Kat finally shook her head clear after a long, silent moment. "Of course," she replied uneasily, glancing at Dante with a forced smile. She helped the little girl over the debris in the room, and guided her through the door and into the hallway.

Dante shuddered as he and the child made eye contact for the briefest moment. Her gray eyes were chilling, and beheld some kind of strange power that he couldn't fully understand. Something isn't right here, he thought.

The little girl carefully and slowly walked through the hall towards the front of the house, completely silent the entire time.

"She seems a little off," Dante whispered.

"She is," Kat agreed.

She reached a hand out to the side and gripped the iron candelabra settled on the nearby coffee table. Then, in the blink of an eye, she swung the candelabra at the back of the little girl's head, sending her to the floor in a bloody sprawl.

"Kat, what the hell?!" Dante exclaimed.

Kat dropped the candelabra to the ground with a thud and instantly drew her can of spray paint. "She's a demon, Dante!"

He didn't need to be told twice. Dante instantly drew Rebellion as it appeared on his back, flickering with incredible power.

From the child's body emerged a wispy stream of white mist, taking the shape of a human hovering in the air.

"That's not a demon," Dante said. "It looks more like a ghost."

Kat glanced between the child's body and the ghostly apparition. "I don't understand," she breathed.

"Forget it," Dante interrupted. "Let's just get rid of the damn thing!"

He charged forward with Rebellion drawn and thrust his blade straight through the center of the spirit, aiming directly for what he guessed to be its heart. It was easily defeated, disappearing in a cloud of hazy white mist, but expelling it had elicited an unpredictable, painful result.

As soon as Dante drove Rebellion through the spirit's heart, a loud, screeching shriek echoed across the house. Dante dropped to his knees in terrible pain, reaching for his head as a surge of sharp, biting electricity coursed up his spine and into his brain.

Suddenly, his thoughts were not his own. He began to see visions and flashes of the little girl, now much livelier and happier. She raced down the street, giggling and bouncing a ball before her. A voice echoed behind her somewhere, "Don't run into the street!" But it was too late.

The girl stopped suddenly to reach for her ball, and a car horn immediately sounded. Tires screeched, the child gasped, and the car collided with her body, sending her flying across the street. Dante experienced every ounce of pain she'd endured, from the snapped spine to the cracked skull. Her body somersaulted unnaturally until it lay in a broken heap, lifeless on the cement with blood pouring from the corner of her mouth.

"Dante!" Kat's distant voice called. "Dante, wake up!"

The next thing he knew, he was back in the house, lying on his back as his vision cleared and returned to normal. Kat hovered over him, shaking his shoulder and running a hand over his face to gauge his temperature.

He slowly blinked his eyes open and stared up at Kat, groaning and reaching a hand to his head.

"Thank God," she whispered, leaning back on her feet. "What happened?"

Dante slowly sat up. "I...I don't know. One second I was here, and the next, I was somewhere else. It was like..." He slowly glanced back at the girl's body and shuddered. "It was like I relived her memories. Terrible memories."

Kat's gaze drifted towards the child. "That was no demon," she said quietly. "I don't know what it was, but when I touched her..." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I could feel the absence of life within her. She was still dead."

"What are you saying?" Dante asked, frowning.

"Somehow, that spirit was able to reanimate the dead. We're not dealing with any run-of-the-mill netherworld rogue, Dante."

"Well, whatever it was," he sighed, rising carefully to his feet, "it's gone now."

Kat rose alongside him and frowned. "You know that if there's one, there will be more. But how - and why - it chose to take up residence here is beyond me..."

Dante shrugged. "The Demon King's throne is vacant. Obviously, the dead are lost. They're taking up refuge anywhere they can. I don't think there's more to it than that."

"That's just it," she insisted. "The Demon King doesn't have control over the dead. He only has control over the demons." She sighed and stared down at the floor in concentration. "Which means that someone - or something - is controlling the spirits of the dead."

Dante's stomach turned. "Not sure I want to find out who."

Kat sighed and moved towards the child's body, bending down next to her with sympathetic eyes. "We should...we should bury her or something."

"You said she was already dead," Dante said uneasily.

Kat scowled at him. "The dead deserve respect, too, Dante."

Dante grinned. "So you're gonna be the ferryman, then?"

She rolled her eyes and returned her gaze to the child. Carefully, she reached a hand towards the girl's heavy, open eyelids. As soon as she made contact, however, she jolted, gasped, and stumbled backwards.

"What is it?" Dante demanded.

Kat clambered to her feet and stepped back, eyeing the girl's body with pure horror. A moment later, the body disintegrated into a heap of black ash.

"What the hell is going on?" Dante said, Rebellion flickering on his back.

"Dante, we have to go!" Kat cried. She turned on her heel and raced out the front door.

Dante was hot on her heels, but as soon as they emerged from the house, they found themselves facing something even worse than what they'd seen inside.

The sky had darkened to near-black, and lightning streaked across the dark canvas. A funnel cloud was forming high above - No, Dante thought after a moment, that's no funnel cloud. It was a group of spirits chasing each other in a circle, shrieking and screaming so loudly that even the human passers-by on the street had to cover their ears. They stared up at the ghosts, murmuring in panic among themselves and pointing at the sight with fear.

"What the hell is that?" Dante breathed.

A large red orb began to form in the center of funnel, growing until Saturn's much smaller twin hovered in the sky. Then, the red orb assumed the horrifying shape of a human face. The humans on the streets began to scream in panic, some scampering back into their homes and others remaining awestruck.

The face released a dark chuckle, and it's empty eyes searched out the crowd below. "Nephilim," it boomed.

Kat and Dante exchanged worried glances.

"I know you've received my message," it continued. "You can consider it my warning."

"Message?" Dante muttered.

"The child," Kat said quietly. "When I touched her after she died, I saw him in her memories."

"Him?"

Kat's eyes glistened with panicked tears.

"The legacy of Sparda will be no match for me now," the deep voice resumed. "I invite you to take up the challenge and face me once more in two days time. Then, we will see who is the true ruler of humanity. Both you and the Demon King will fall."

The face laughed wildly until it disappeared altogether. The spirits suddenly stopped chasing each other in a connected circle and shrieked loudly once more, dispersing and fleeing the scene of the crime.

"We have to get out of here," Kat insisted.

Dante continued to stare up at the sky, his heart pounding and his breath caught in his throat.

"Dante," Kat pleaded, reaching for his hand. "We need to go."

After a moment, he broke out of his trance and nodded, allowing himself to be led down the street by Kat to their car.

He felt like he was in a tunnel, with the humans' panicked voices and questions echoing all around him.

Did it say Nephilim? one asked. Are there demons living among us?

Were those ghosts? Did I see that right?

Two days? What did it mean about that?

All of these questions were also bouncing around in Dante's head. His stomach twisted nervously as he replayed the one terrifying fact that he wanted to deny:

Mundus was returning.


And now, a sneak peak from "Chapter 3: The Demon King's Request"

The Dreamrunner rose to full height and held his scimitars before him in a coercive gesture. Then, he sheathed them. "I have a message to deliver from the Demon King," he said, his voice deep, chilling, and haunting.

"And you can send it right back," Dante growled.

"Dante, please," Kat scolded, offering him a pleading look.

After a hesitant moment, he drew back and sheathed Arbiter. He folded his arms over his chest and drew in a deep breath. "Alright. I'm listening."

"The Demon King requests your assistance," the Dreamrunner continued. "A common enemy is reawakening, and can only be silenced with your combined efforts."

"Oh, sure. I'll just go with you to find Mundus and we'll become best friends, just like old times."

"Mundus is the enemy," he returned.

Dante stared confusedly at him. "And I don't suppose you'd tell me who the Demon King is?"

"The son of Sparda," he replied. "Your brother, Vergil."


Read and review, please and thank you! :)

Chapter 3 will be posted next Friday for your viewing pleasure! I guess I should make another side note: ALL chapters will be posted every Friday unless otherwise noted. I am very responsible about getting my chapters posted in a timely manner, so you can count on it! :)