Chapter One:

The Golden Rose

It was five minutes past one o'clock and a new club, called The Golden Rose, had just opened up a week ago; rumors had spread that it was now the hottest place in town and Dante Sparta, had been itching to get into the club, but it seemed like every time he had a chance, some one would call in with a demon problem, but lately when he had arrived on scene nothing would be there and the witnesses would tell him that a lone figure cloaked in the shadows, had showed up and had already liberated the problem.

Least to say Dante Sparda, was pissed and wanted retribution, but as of yet he hadn't been able to learn anything other than that the hooded person always wore an ankle length shadow colored trench coat with the hood always up, so no one could identify the person and that the person wielded only two silver and black, Browning 9milimeter Hi-power's and that the individual could jump from building roof's and land elegantly without any problems.

This piece of information caused Dante to stop dead, only demons or half-demons or half-devils, like himself could do that and Dante was ninety-nine percent sure that it wasn't a demon but, the only other half-devil, that he knew of that was in existence was, Vergil, his elder twin brother, who he didn't have a good relationship with and knowing Vergil, he wouldn't help humans, unless there was something in it for him and from what Dante could see, there was nothing in it for the cloaked person, other than slaying demons.

"I need a drink." The demon hunter sighed, while running his hand through his silver mane, as he approached the doorway of the Golden Rose, from here he could hear the blaring music as it literally vibrated the building and door.

'Heh, this should be good.' Dante grinned to himself as the door slung open, immediately his senses were assaulted by the smell of perspiration, alcohol, cigarette smoke and the mixing of cologne and perfume, to any normal person it would have probably been disgusting, but to Dante Sparda, it was like a drug.

Weaving his way through the crowd wasn't easy, the whole house was packed, men and women were grinding up against one another and weaving their bodies together like snakes, though Dante didn't mind at all, as some very scantily dressed and beautiful women smiled seductively and rubbed themselves against him, it was enough to make him have an erection for a lifetime, but he was here mostly for a drink, so politely and seductively he bid the girls a short farewell and headed towards the bar.

"What can I get for you?" A tall, almond skinned brunette asked, in a rough tone, she had a dark scowl on her attractive face, but the scowl made her look absolutely revolting.

Dante was taken aback, by the bar attendants attitude and dark regard to himself, "Eh? Yeah, tequila will do just fine, babe."

With a dark look, the attendant reached under the counter and grabbed a glass and a bottle of tequila and pored him a full shot glass of the alcoholic beverage, she still had that angry look on her face, which made Dante raise an eyebrow when the woman started to murmur to herself, "Stupid job." though only a demon or half-devil could have heard her.

After downing the shot of tequila in less than a second, Dante held up his glass and smiled seductively with a raised eyebrow, "Hey babe, what's your name?"

The woman slowly cocked her eyebrow, scowled and her eyes narrowed at Dante, before she spoke, "Listen here buddy, I don't know who you are or where you came from and frankly, I really don't give a damn, so just shut the hell up and drink!" Before she practically slammed the tall bottle down and marched off.

Dante blinked twice before, shaking his head and grabbing the tall warm bottle and pouring himself another glass and chugging it down; ten minutes later Dante was more than half way through the bottle, usually he never drank so much, but tonight was a different story, too many things were off lately and he just needed to relax for a bit, so he let the lyrics of Getting Away With Murder by Papa Roach, drift through him.

Half an hour later, Dante had only gone through two bottles of tequila, which usually didn't even give him a buzz, but for some strange reason, he was starting to feel weird, it was almost like he was on a cloud, his vision was kind of foggy for a minute before it just suddenly disappeared and he felt as sober as ever.

'Am I… drunk?' He asked himself, with a baffled look that made him look stupid, still handsome but stupid.

Shaking that almost ridiculous thought, from his only slightly buzzed mind he grinned foolishly to himself, after all it took a lot of alcohol to make him drunk; he had successfully drank two bottles, already and that was more then he intended to drink, so shoving the empty bottle and glass away from his reach, he stood up and slowly made his way back to the entrance, when all of a sudden he felt tired, like he hadn't slept in months and his body started to feel like it was made of pure lead and it started to shut down.

'What in the name of hell, did that woman put in my drink?' The devil hunter, asked himself as he stumbled out of the club and into the street, he could swear that he saw red spots all over his vision.

Suddenly a harsh, mocking and evil laugh echoed all around the alley, making Dante reach blindly for his guns, Ebony and Ivory, but in his drunken state he couldn't keep a grip on the guns and they fell down at his feet and not two seconds later, he followed his guns and his knees hit the hard pavement.

"So devil hunter, how does it feel to be weak, helpless and on your knees before me?" A cold but smug voice asked from the shadows.

Dante could only vaguely see clearly but that voice was undoubtedly female and it was very familiar, just then out of the shadows of the alley walked, a tall woman with almond colored skin and dark brown eyes, she had a dark, demonic look on her face as she stared down at the helpless Dante.

"You!" Dante hissed with a drunken slur, "Damn you bitch, what did you put in my drink?"

"Poison." The demon woman told him casually with an evil smirk, her eyes changing from dark brown to bright crimson, as she picked at her fingernails, slowly her body started to change, her almond colored skin went to pastel white and her long brunette hair went to a deep black and long ivory fangs sprouted from her mouth and her fingernails became long poison tipped claws.

"Heh, you're still ugly." Dante cockily told the female demon who just glared at him and hissed angrily, before she drew her right hand back and like the lightning flashes she slashed her long poison tipped claws across the half-devil's handsome face, making his crimson blood splatter everywhere.

The pale demon smiled eerily a satisfied smile, as she looked at her handiwork with fond ruby eyes, before she spoke, in an airily but evil tone, "Before you die half-breed, I want you to know the name of your murderer."

Dante, just glared, for he could do nothing else, whatever poison she had used was a powerful and unheard of kind, because he could do nothing other than, move his head, still the demon continued on talking, "My name is, Drella. Drella Darkness and I will gladly kill you now, Demon Slayer!" She hissed before reading her already blood soaked claws for the final blow, which would go directly though the half-devil's heart, effectively ending his pathetic life.