Sorry to keep you waiting, guys. Not had much of a chance to get on the computer for the past week or so. Anyway, here is the third installment of the story. Hope you enjoy it! Oh, but first, notes to my reviewers!

BIG-D-73 - Thanks very much for your reviews. I'm really glad the last chapter didn't dissapoint and am hoping this one will also prove a worthy read. I'm definately going to be taking a look at your stuff over the weekend when I have some spare time. Sad, but I don't seem to have much of a chance to read fan fic very often! Thanks again!

Eric Draven201 - I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Writing in Lady's point of view is so much fun! Inner torment is a wonderful thing to write about! Hope you enjoy this next chapter! Thanks for the review!

destructo888 - Glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for your review!

KuteInsanity - Hello! It has been a while. Too long, in fact. I haven't really written any fanfiction in a long time. Sometimes I just get these random little urges to play with the characters again. Not sure what inspired me this time. Think I just needed to break out and write something that wasn't my super troublesome original stuff. Thanks for the review, and yes, I'm sure Dante will be able to fix things!

Now, onto the story...

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CHAPTER 3

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I felt awful.

I felt angry.

Angry at myself for having succumbed so easily to him. I'd always thought myself impervious to his charms but I realised I'd been fooling myself all along. I'd been attracted to him since the very first day, when the tower fell and I saw him for who he truly was. I was curious about him then, drawn to him like none other. It probably wasn't attraction in the romantic sense, but I'd certainly been charmed by him. And now he knew it. He knew I wanted him and I was ashamed. Ashamed by my lack of control. Ashamed of how I had acted. But most of all I was scared. Scared to go back there and face the music.

Would I be able to look at him in the same way again? Would anything even be the same as it was before?

I always thought that love was supposed to be a beautiful thing, but its ended up giving me nothing but torment. Niggling away at my heart for all this time and then doing this. What had happened to me? I wasn't even sure I knew myself anymore.

And the fact of the matter was, I didn't think this was some simple crush that I could get over. I think…I think I'm in love with him.

Okay, I'll admit to you now that it took me a few of days to gather the courage to go and see him again. I waited until I had an excuse because there was no way I was going to turn up at his doorstep and say: hey, can we talk about what happened the other night? No, after a day of thinking I'd come to the conclusion that it would be simpler to just pretend the whole thing had never happened. Just carry on like normal. Okay. Yes. Stupid idea. But what else was I supposed to do?! I bet you would have done the same if you were in my situation.

I knocked on the door – something I never normally did – and entered a few seconds after, not bothering to wait for a reply. But, when I stepped inside, Dante wasn't there. Someone else was. A woman. Yes…my hackles were up in an instant and I knew – even then – that I was an idiot for being jealous after what had happened. But even still…it was kind of hard to swallow.

She turned to look at me. She had pretty blonde hair that hung in ringlets, shining blue eyes and a pert little mouth. She was slim where it mattered and curvy in all the right places. Oh, and no scars, either – something which I've collected a lot of over the years. Yep, you guessed it, she was just the sort of woman that Dante liked.

"Who're are you?" I didn't mean to sound so accusatory but I did.

"Me? Um…I'm Eleanor. Sorry, who are you? Are you seeking the devil hunter's services too?"

I almost blushed. Almost, but not quite. "No. I'm his partner…uh, work colleague." Okay, so then I blushed. Luckily, Eleanor didn't seem to notice. She just smiled prettily and held out her hand.

I ignored the gesture. "So where is he?"

"The devil hunter?"

"Yes." I was losing patience now.

"Back there." She pointed towards the door that led to his bedroom. I swallowed. What exactly was he doing back there? I wanted to ask, but there was no need because she answered the question before I had a chance. "He had to make a call."

"A call?" I didn't wait for her to confirm. Instead I made my way across the room, pushed the door wide open and stepped into the small corridor that held doors leading to various rooms. He was standing at the far end, the phone pressed to his ear.

"So you're sure, right?" A pause. "Okay, okay, but if this is a joke, I swear I'm gonna come over there and kick your ass straight into hell." Another pause. "Yeah, whatever." Then he hung up and turned around, spotting me. I wish there had been some surprise there, but if there was he hid it well. He must have heard me come in.

"Didn't think you'd be back so soon." He replied smoothly. "Couldn't resist, right, babe?"

Well…he seemed back to his normal self…

"I have a job." I continued. Might as well begin the: 'let's pretend nothing happened and carry on like old times' plan straight away. No time like the present!

"Good for you. Let me know how it goes." He shot me a sort of half-formed grin and stepped past me, back out into the front room. I followed, seething.

"Okay, Elle, everything seems legit so if you just sign the contract I'll get started right away." He held a piece of paper out to her and she moved to lean on the desk.

He called her 'Elle'?! So they were on nickname terms already? And a contract? That meant this was a BIG job. Wasn't he going to tell me about this? Was it better than the one I had found?

I chose that moment to pounce. "Dante, about that job. It pays well. I figured you'd want to join me."

It took him a moment to respond, but he looked almost guilty. I felt my heart constrict, afraid of what he might say. Maybe he hated me. Maybe he felt so rejected that he didn't want to work with me anymore…oh, whatever, seriously I need to get a life. The only thing that I had hurt was his ego. He'd get over it. And yet…the nervousness stayed with me.

"You really think that's a good idea, babe?"

"Why not?"

"So what, you're just going to pretend nothing happened?"

Well…yeah. That was kind of the plan, right? Apparently he was set on making this even more difficult than it needed to be. I didn't like his whole: let's be serious and have an adult conversation, state, either. I wasn't used to this Dante. It left me feeling…unnerved.

"Dante, I'm sorry, I just…can't deal with that right now."

Strangely enough he seemed to understand.

And then I left, moving back out across the street. I could do this job without him. See if I cared!

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Anger steered my movements and as the demons came out of hiding to pin me to the ground and tear out my throat, I shot them down in their path. It was a difficult job in that the demons were numerous, but easy in that they were minions without a leader. They ran rampant and wild with no organisation and no plan.

And did I enjoy it? Hell yes.

I took out every ounce of my anger, fear and irritation on those bastards. If a shot took them down without killing them, I'd walk up to where they writhed, look them straight in their ugly eyes and then stamp their brains into the floor. It was a great way of de-stressing yourself and I was particularly stressed today.

Stressed by Dante, mostly, and his mind-games.

I couldn't understand him, sometimes. When I finally thought I'd got him sussed, he ends up doing something like this. Kissing me! I can't figure it out at all, or what it means.

I paused in my thinking as the final horde of demons rounded the corner, moving on all fours, horned head lowers. They hesitated, pawing at the ground like enraged bulls. Then they charged and as they did so, the spines on their backs shot at me. I tumbled to evade them and rose both pistols, firing them as fast as I could.

By the time the job was over it was getting dark. I was tired, hungry and still pissed off. I wondered if Dante's job had been successful. I wondered how that girl was paying him. I wondered if she would have run off in tears if he'd tried kissing her. Probably not. Why did I have to do these stupid things? I shouldn't even have let him kiss me in the first place!

And I was just rounding a corner when I saw them. Both of them. Together.

He was leaning casually against the side of a street light which streamed gold down into his pale hair. The woman, Eleanor, was facing him, nodding seriously. He said something to her that lit up her face. She smiled, reached up to put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. She actually kissed him!? I felt my blood run cold and then hot again as anger ripped through me.

What was he doing!? Was the job a lie? Was she just some tart come round to flirt with him? Was our kiss so meaningless that he wasn't even having second thoughts about kissing another girl like…a few days later?

My heart was pounding, my fists clenching and unclenching. All that stress came flooding back and, before I said something stupid, I figured I'd best get away as soon as possible. Bracing myself, I stepped out to cut behind them, sure enough in my skills of stealth that they wouldn't hear my tread.

They didn't, but unfortunately, their little 'affair' was coming to an end. She was patting him lightly on the arm and then turned to leave, moving into the house they had been standing in front of. Oh, great, so he was escorting her home, too? How gentlemanly of him!

And then our eyes met.

He'd turned back to leave and I'd been caught out, frozen in the middle of the street. I was tired, angry and insanely jealous and I was just about ready to kill him. His eyes – brilliant in the fading light – were surprised, but I didn't bother to read any deeper. I turned and kept on walking, determined to put more distance between us. Determined not to let him know that I'd seen their little 'midnight fumble'.

See how I'm exaggerating the situation in my head? Is this just a Lady, thing or do all girls get like this?

"Wait up."

Shitshitshit. He wasn't going to just leave it. Couldn't he take a hint?

"How was the job?"

Okay, so he wasn't teasing me or mocking me or doing anything like that. Something was definitely up. I didn't slow my pace, but I turned my head a little to show that I was listening. "Fine."

"You made it out alive, then."

I bristled. "Oh right, because I'm not super-human means that I'm pretty much guaranteed to die unless I'm with you or I'm lucky." I snapped. Now was not the time to look down at me for being a mere human.

He sensed that I wasn't in the mood for teasing and steered the conversation in a different direction. "Sheesh, you're in a bad mood. The job was that bad, huh?"

"Didn't I already tell you it was fine?"

He snorted. "Well my job didn't go fine. It was a waste of time."

"What?" I blinked up at him.

"Seriously." He stretched up, hands behind his head. "When I got there, absolutely nothing. No freaking demons anywhere, not even a little one!" He growled. "I should have come with you."

"I thought it was a big job?" I asked, feeling my anger ease whilst discussing work. Had he done this on purpose? Probably.

"That's what I thought. She's just brought herself a plot by the old sector."

"The ruined sector, you mean." I replied. "So rich she doesn't know what to do with her money, right?"

"Something like that." He shrugged. "In any case, I went there and nothing. If I don't find those bastards that means no pay. No pay means no beer. No beer means no evenings of mindless fun!" He prodded my arm with an elbow and grinned as I frowned up at him.

"Oh, so she is paying you with money, then?" I bit back. Wow, was I jealous.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, seeing how cosy you two were just then, I thought maybe she was paying you in flesh." The instant the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. That's why I hadn't wanted to talk to him.

However, he didn't seem angry. He just seemed…amused. I'm not sure what's worse.

"Jealousy is a terrible thing, Lady."

"Me? Jealous? Of what? You and that tart? I don't think so." But there was no point denying it. No point at all.

"Well, gotta get back, see yah round! Oh, and if you have time, swing round tomorrow, will you? I'm gonna check that place out again."

I wanted to say no.

I knew I wouldn't.

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to be continued...