Monday morning found Dante walking into Nolan's office with a scowl on his face. The demon problem was a demon problem, not a witch problem. The older man sat at his desk reading the morning paper while Dante stood in front ready to rip the paper away from the man.
"The woman has nothing to do with the demon problem."
"How can you be sure?" Nolan's voice sounded from behind the paper and when he didn't put it down the young demon hunter found his annoyance building.
"There is no evidence of her doing any sort of rituals for demonic activity."
"And this proves her innocence?" The question was asked in a way that made Dante feel inferior. Like he was working for the man exclusively and in a sense he was, but he had the option of saying fuck it and moving on.
"It does. She said her place is off limits to demons so when the old woman went there three weeks ago, she went in human and left human. Whatever happened to her happened between her leaving Rowena's and the time she started acting different." Dante was sure he couldn't be any clearer than that.
"And what about the incident at the bar last night?" Nolan asked putting down his newspaper and resting his elbows on his desk. "She obviously sent a demon after you." This man was thick headed.
"No, the succubus was there just looking for pleasure. Like they tend to do." Dante put his hands on the desk. "A bar is the perfect place to pick up a good time." Obviously, Nolan wanted Roe gone and was looking for a way to run her off. The question was why?
"Let me make this clear for you. I don't care if you have to plant evidence on her or in her house, you make her leave or I will do it myself." Nolan's face turned deadly serious to the point where he was as red as Dante's duster.
"Why do you want her gone so bad?"
"Ask her yourself." Nolan said. "Then you will see why."
Dante gave a frustrated growl before storming out of the office and the building. To put it bluntly, he was getting pissed. He knew Nolan was trying to twist things in his favor. He knew he was being used. Well, now he knew. Yesterday he wasn't sure, but today he was totally sure. This was going to be tricky and fun. It would require him to be less brash and more cunning, not something he usually did. Dante faught his way through everything with a cocky grin on his face and usually that worked to success, but this was different. It required more detective skills.
He walked down the sidewalk looking at the different shops as he strode by them lazily. He saw a little girl and her mother walk into the bakery ahead of him. The little girl was probably no more than six or seven, but the smile on her face could probably light up a pitch black room. She was innocent and unaware of the trouble brewing in this town. It reminded Dante of the reason he hunted demons.
It was time to pay a visit to the priest from yesterday.
If anything the man in question could provide some details as to what happened in the last three weeks and possibly before. Dante made his way down to the church that was clearly being repaired from the damage he caused. The priest was dressed in normal clothes as he worked on cutting a board with a power saw. So maybe he wasn't a priest?
"I don't normally see priests out in civies."
"Well, I'm a man first and priest second." The bald man smiled as he put the saw down and allowed Dante to come over. "What can I do for you?"
"I have some questions that maybe you can shed some light on." The devil hunter was sure this guy was going to attempt to convert him into a religious wonder, but the opposit happened.
"Come with me." The humble nature of this man seemed to bother Dante in a way. He was used to priests trying to send him away. The man lead him inside the church and sat down on the front pew and motioned for Dante to sit. The damage he had done yesterday could be seen all over but this one pew was untouched. "You may find it odd, but this was probably a blessing. This building is so old that it was starting to have probablems with the foundation."
"You're welcome." Dante said and the man laughed at him.
"So, what are your questions?"
"What do you know about Mrs. Martin?" Dante asked.
"She has been coming to sermens since before I came here. I knew her well. A very good and understanding woman even though she would associate with that woman outside of town." The man said with a look of sadness. "She was an outstanding member of the community and in the last three weeks she had been exceedingly senile. We all thought it was because she was getting sick, so we prayed for her. It wasn't until she cursed out a shop owner in town because they didn't have what she wanted. That was not Mrs. Martin. Then yesterday happened."
"She was killed by a low level demon who wore her skin."
"I knew that woman was evil." The priest clenched his fists. "I told Mrs. Martin several times that her soul was in great peril by visiting that woman. If only she had listened she would still be here."
"I don't think so. Low level demons tend to pick off whatever they can find, usually a child or an elderly person that cant fight back. Its even worse when it is children." Dante knew this well. He had seen a mother wail over the corpse of her dead child after a demon killed him. "It's haunting."
"It doesn't matter now does it?"
"No. Though I would take a guess that you want Rowena gone as well." Dante said her name and the priest looked up at him in shock.
"You met her. That vile witch." The bald man said through clenched teeth.
"Yeah. She's a normal innocent person trying to help people. I just don't understand why everyone sees her as a problem." The wording mattered.
"No she isn't. She's a seductress that takes pleasure with men." Dante raised an eyebrow. "She puts them under her spell and brings them home."
"Interesting. Tell me more."
"She is the one summoning the demons." Okay that was something that he knew was going around already.
"Okay so what does she look like?" The million dollar question.
"Young and beautiful with strawberry hair." The bald man stated with a hungry glint in his eyes. It unnerved Dante when he saw it. "She's dangerous."
"So stay away from her if you value your life." The red clad hunter stood up and put his hands in his pockets before walking out. He got some answers, but not all of them. The priest was hungry for Roe and that was why he wanted her gone. It went against his vows as a religious man to lust after someone.
Whatever was going on he was going to find out. Between Nolan and the priest, he had very little to go on. So what was really going on? As far as he knew, Roe was very much powerless and innocent. Sure she probably did a lot of things with herbs and oils, but that didn't make her capable of summoning demons. He remembered the wards being on the property when he was a kid so it wasn't her that put them there. She was human.
So why did it involve her so much?
"Everything is always complicated." And women were always to blame.
Dante found himself wandering over to Roe's again after having absolutely nothing to do. He stood on her porch as it started to rain and saw the small group of barn swallows that took shelter under the porch by sitting on a line of Chrismas lights she had hanging up. He went to knock on the door but as soon as his knuckles made contact with the wood it opened to reveal Roe who looked at him with questioning eyes.
"I was in the area."
"And you came just in time by the looks of it." She said looking out behind him to see the rain coming down heavily. "Cats and dogs." She smiled at him and stepped to the side inviting him in. "The kitchen is this way and you can put your stuff in that closet over there." She lead him through the foyer and pointed to the closet under the stairs.
"You know I have been in the house before right." Dante knew exactly where the closet was and why it was there. He remembered hiding in that closet when they played hide and seek.
"I didn't think you remembered." She turned around to see him removing Rebellion and his guns to put them in the closet. "You know how some people are when they come back to a place. Sometimes they remember and sometimes they don't." He nodded at her logic and removed his duster to hang it up as well.
"It's coming back to me. I used to hide in there." He said before walking past her and opening another door that lead down to the basement. "And we would sneak down here to play dungeon."
"Good times." Roe said as he closed the door and then walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah. Until they weren't."
"What made you leave?" She asked him and he shrugged.
"I don't know. I just wanted to leave." Dante was eleven when he left the family and he never bothered to tell them where he went because he didn't remember much about them or he didn't want to remember.
"I won't pry. It's not my business why you left, but it is my business why you are here now."
"I met with Nolan this morning and then the priest before coming here." Dante said as Roe went to her pantry and pulled out a glass jar filled with a certain type of herb. "Why do they want you gone?" She stilled when he asked the question.
"Because they can't get to me here. Anyone with malicious intent can not pass those gates because it was the last defense my mother put on this place to protect me."
"So it isn't just demons." Dante said.
"That was why my father brought you here after your mother was killed. You were safe here." She pulled a sprig of the herb from the jar and placed it in a tea strainer. "If I leave this place I will be a target."
"Why?"
"Just like how you are offspring from a powerful demon, I am a descendant from a powerful witch. Our blood is precious and demons just want more power." She held up her hand and a bright white circle appeared above her palm with various symbols and shapes. "I'm still learning." Dante knew those were glyphs that held command over a certain force or element. He had seen them in the tower four years ago.
"You can make glyphs?"
"And destroy them." She closed her hand and the glyph disappeared. "The more I learn the ore things I am able to do with them. Like summoning objects." She produced a glyph in front of her and she pulled a mug from it.
"That's useful." He said sitting down on the stool across the island from her.
"To a point. I have to put glyphs on the objects I summon and honestly, I don't want to spend hours doing it for everything I use." She stopped what she was doing and sighed. "It does take some blood to make the permenant ones."
"It gets better with time and practice or so they say." He leaned on his elbows as she pulled a kettle out and brought it over to the sink to fill with water. "What happened to your parents?"
"I don't know. I woke up one day and they were nowhere to be found. It was like they never existed. Pictures and clothes were all gone. I don't even remember their faces anymore." Roe turned the stove on. "I remember them being there, but I dont know. I dont miss them and that is the strange thing."
"When did this happen?"
"Four years ago." She said and Dante couldn't help but feel like there was some sort of connection between the events at Temen-Ni-Gru and her parents disappearing. Maybe he was overthinking it. Something didn't sit right with him about all of this and he was determined to get to the bottom of it. From both sides. Nolan needed to be dealt with and there was Roe.
Roe who was his friend? He didn't know. He knew her, but then he didn't.
"Anyway, I think I better leave." He still didn't know what to do about Nolan and his demands. "There is something I have to do."
"Okay." She blinked at the abrupt way Dante stood up.
"Stay here and stay away from town." He said walking out of the kitchen and to the closet under the stairs. She followed him and watched as he put all his gear back on with a blank look.
"What is going on Dante?" She decided the only way to get some sort of answer from him was to get stern. "You didn't come here to visit."
"No. I didn't." He said putting his sword on its holster. "Nolan wanted me to plant false evidence." She glared.
"And did you?" Roe asked. She knew he didn't. She had eyes on him the entire time and he was never good with slight of hand. His card playing skills were always shitty.
"No. I intend to do this my way."
"Which is guns blazing." She sighed. "You never change." She walked up and grabbed him by the arm pulling him up the stairs.
Roe had been dealing with Nolan's accusations since her parents died or disappeared. It was only a matter of time he would hire someone to do the dirty work he couldn't do. Her luck paid off when Dante showed up. She pulled him up the stairs with a little protest from him, but eventually he just followed and she let go of him.
"I can play along to Nolan's game." She smirked and brought him to a door next to the stairwell. He had to know what room this was. She opened the door and inside was shelves lined with books and jars of different herbs and liquids. It smelled like a candle shop would smell. "Go pick your evidence to take back to Nolan."
"Wait a minute, you want me to get you run out of town?" He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Nolan has never come here himself. I found it odd that he would always send the sheriff or someone else over to accuse me, but he would never come himself. Everyone in town has been here to either get something from me or to pick a bone with me and each one could go through the gates without issue." Roe explained and she could see the gears turning in Dante's head. He was catching on now. "He is not human Dante."
"Got anything good enough to say 'demon witch'?"
"I have one thing in mind." She gave him a devious smile.
Obviously this is not going to be a very long story. The outline I have written for it is pretty straightforward and feels like an episode from the Anime, but longer. Which is fine because I'm working on the outline for the next story.