Please Enjoy. I only own the Plot, Wiccan and every other OC. I apologise in advance if any of the characters seem OOC. Please review to let me know your thoughts.

Thank you to roseimagine for the review and I'm glad that you've enjoyed the story so far.

Chapter 3: - Something Wicca this Way Comes

I arrived in Mercuno, the town was small but trade still occurred even out in this pseudo-abandoned area. The buildings were unique, almost as if the past and present were melding together, some houses were thatched cottages, others were modern day buildings, whilst the rest showed a mixture of both times. A glistening river gushed along the outskirts and the people seemed to be bright and happy, however despite the peaceful appearance I could sense that something was wrong… very wrong.

I glanced around looking for anything that seemed out of the ordinary, however nothing struck me as strange so I continued my trek through the town. Each step felt like I was treading through lead as the crushing presence of something wrong, pressed down onto my shoulders.

Eventually I came to a bridge which crossed over the river, leading to an orchard of different trees. I stopped on the bridge and gazed down at the crystalline water as it gushed along, hoping to clear my head so as to determine what was wrong with this town. Suddenly a ripple in the magical current shocked me out of my daydreaming, I spun around only to see Thanatos standing behind me, I felt the air become chill, just as it always did whenever this man of an unknown species appeared outside of his bar.

"What do you want?" I asked the man, it was rare for him to leave the bar and he only did it when he had important information to deliver. I noticed that in one of his deadly pale hands was a cluster of papers. The man raised his hand, holding the papers out to me, I cautiously took the papers but didn't look through them as I continued to stare down my associate.

"I saw your battle with that guy after you let my bar. I knew he wasn't human so I sent Seamus to do his job," Thanatos began to explain. "He didn't manage to get much information, but he figured out the guy's name is Dante and he's a demon hunter who owns the Devil May Cry shop. The rest of the information's in there, it looks like you've got some competition," Thanatos finished explained, chuckling as he finished. Unimpressed with what he said, I whipped my sword out and pressed it against his jugular causing the man to still.

"I'll make this clear, I don't have competition and if you get in my way, I'll kill you," I flatly stated, not even batting an eyelash at the threat I had just delivered. The man just smiled and mocked saluted me before vanishing in a cloud of black smoke, I walked back into the town as I looked at the papers he gave me and I realised that it was a Dossier about Dante. The information was basic but it turns out that he had been active as a hunter for a good few years and apparently Devil May Cry had become famous after he had managed to stop the Temen-ni-gru from rising.

My feet froze when I read the phrase Temen-ni-gru, it was the seal on Sparda's power, the fact that someone had raised it and this Dante was able to stop them was a testament to his power, especially since I had an idea about the person that had raised it and that person wasn't easily defeated. I headed into an abandoned alley and stored the Dossier in Purgatory until a later date and returned to the hunt.

I looked around when a flash appeared in the corner of my eye, I turned my head only to see nothing, I continued walking until I spotted something strange weaving through the crowds. It was a young woman with long striking silver hair that obscured her face, she wore an amber coloured top with short sleeves and a black belt around the middle, dark blue jeans and black combat boots, however the most noticeable thing was the quarterstaff on her back with a triquetra engraved in the centre of the weapon.

I recognised the weapon and began following her through the crowded streets, we continued through the streets until she crossed over the bridge and headed into the orchard. I continued following her but now with less people she had picked up her pace which confused me, surely she could sense my magic so why was she running… or was she trying to lead me somewhere as she often did when we were children.

Eventually I lost her in the orchard, I looked around trying to find where she went but to no avail, however I did spot something interesting. Two women were talking to each other within the shade of a tree and neither were from Mercuno, which I could tell form their appearance. The one on the right had long blonde hair with blue eyes, she wore a black corset, black jeans and black boots, with twin pistols hanging at her sides.

The other had dark, chin-length hair which framed both sides of her face, and her fringe reached her eyebrows. She had many scars across her body, the most prominent being the one across her nose. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, her outfit consisted of a white jacket with what appeared to be a harness underneath with no shirt. She also had white short shorts and red gloves. She had gun magazine pouches on either side of her hips and knee high boots, connected to the belt she wore was a harness for the missile launcher that she carried. She also had a pistol attached to the front of her skirt and a sub-machine gun on the back of the skirt and finally a pistol was strapped to her right boot. She also wore a necklace with a red gem on it.

Since I knew that these women weren't from Mercuno and that they weren't of my kin since we would have disguised our weapons, I became suspicious of them. I sent out a pulse to read their auras and found that the dark haired one was a normal human with priestess abilities whilst the blonde was a demon but there was something wrong with her aura, almost as if she was fighting a demon's natural instinct to kill.

I decided to keep moving, hoping to find the woman or at least my prey before they got too far ahead, I continued through the orchard being careful to avoid anyone's gaze. I eventually came to a large grassy hill with crumbling ruins dotted about its' surface, a cool breeze whipped through the air causing my hair to dance about as I surveyed the terrain, when suddenly a force slammed into me from behind and I went rolling down the hill until I dug my elbow into the ground and slammed to a halt.

I got to my feet and looked up to see my attackers, there were thirteen Blood-goyles, demons that have bat-like wings, long tails, legless bodies, and grotesque faces with beak-like noses. They were immune to melee weapons, even those forged by witches, so my magic was the only option to fight these creatures.

I summoned electricity to my hands and fired it at the Blood-goyles, they scattered but the lighting managed to hit one and because I had enchanted it to hit the nearest thing next to it, the attack jumped to another Blood-goyle killing both instantly, but it had no effect on the others as they had flown out of range of the attack's chain ability. They dived down heading straight towards me, I dodged out of the way of their beaks as they plunged them into the grassy earth.

I sent pulses of magic into the earth and then used that magic to summon forth some of the roots of the trees to attack the creatures, I attacked by making the trunks of the vines twirl around me in a circular fashion thus protecting me from any attacks, whilst the ends of the vines lashed out and struck through the Blood-goyles. This technique easily allowed me to eliminate five of them, before the remaining six ascended into the air and managed to get out of reach of the vines, which I returned to the earth.

The Blood-goyles began their dive in an attempt to finish me off, I summoned ice to my hand and used it to make six spears and then launched them at the demons and all six were impaled, killing them instantly. Their decrepit corpses fell to the earth as they returned to the statues that they once were, I had to wonder how these creatures came to be when they had to come into contact with blood to come alive and why those statues were out here in this peaceful rural town where there had been no recorded demonic activity in this area's history.

A ripple through the magical current alerted me to an attack and I barely dodged out of the way of the weapon, which had crushed the soft earth beneath the force of the attack. I looked up to see my attacker and was surprised when I saw the woman that I had been following earlier, the two of us kept each other's stare, refusing to look away, the woman finally moved picking up the quarterstaff she was wielding and held it out in front of her.

I was confused by her actions, but it was nothing unusual for her to challenge me. Even if I hadn't seen her for nearly two decades it seems that she still possessed a fighting spirit that will never cease to burn, I pulled my sword off my back and held it out prepared to engage in a sparring match.

The woman charged at me and brought the rowan staff crashing towards my skull, I blocked it with the flat of my blade but I could feel the power behind it and I realised that she was not going to hold back any strength, which heavily confused me as she always held back when engaging against her kin unless there was a very good reason why she didn't.

I jumped back and landed a few feet away from my opponent, I truly looked at her trying to see if I could glean anything from her, however I saw that her normally kind and warm midnight blue eyes were tinted a cold reddish pink colour as if someone had frozen over her very heart. I realised that since she was deadly serious about this fight, I wouldn't be able to hold back against her without sustaining serious damage.

I charged my blade with magic causing it to pulse with energy as ribbons of light began to twist around the weapon. The woman raised her quarterstaff and her grip tightened for a split second before the quarterstaff separated into three parts, with a chain connecting all three piece together in a line, and black flames began to ooze off of the weapon.

'Black Magic?! There's no way she'd use that.' I thought. Since Black Magic was flowing from her weapon I knew something was wrong with her.

"What have you done with Mirage?" I demanded from the imposter. 'Mirage' scowled at me as if this question displeased her, which I truthfully didn't care about.

"I am Mirage," She spoke up, her voice sounding like icy needles. I glared at her and swung my weapon in an arc, the light surging off of it in a wave, she counter by spinning one of her staff pieces in a circle which caused the black flames to spin in a shield, blocking the light from reaching the witch.

"There's no way in hell you're Mirage. Mirage would ever use Black Magic or work with demons," I shot back at the fake. She ran at me, re-joining the pieces of her staff into one and began to attack me with the blazing staff, I blocked the blows with my sword as the flames and light engulfed each other before repelling the opposing element and repeating the process.

"To see him again. To see him again I'd do anything!" Mirage cried out. Those words shot right through me as I stared at her, wondering which person she was talking about, there were only two men in the world that she had been separated from, but who. It was then that I realised it could only be one of them, it was the one she never got to spend a day with before he was taken from her.

"Mirage if you do that, the demons will find him and eat his soul!" I exclaimed in shock that she would do something so reckless just to see him. Mirage looked at me, her eyes were barren icy pools as a sneer twisted at her pale lips, making her truly look like a demon.

"I don't care, just to see him once again, even if it's whilst he's been devoured, I'll be happy," Mirage screamed. I knew then that this maybe Mirage's body but it clearly wasn't her heart, because my sister would never say something so ridiculous, she would die before sacrificing anyone she loved.

"Whatever has happened to you Mirage, I promise you I'll fix it," I vowed. However Mirage just glared at me, rushed forward and began to viciously attack me with her quarterstaff and Black Magic mixture, making it so that all I could do was defend so as to keep myself alive. Eventually I summoned my magic to telekinetically throw Mirage back so as to give me some time to come up with a plan.

I gritted my teeth unsure of what to do against my brainwashed sister, she just stood then looking at me, one end of her staff occasionally brushing against the grass, as her hand rotated ever so slightly. Mirage then lifted up her weapon and it separated again, she then spun the weapon around before throwing it at me, I raised my sword and one of the ends wrapped around the blade and thus a tug of war began between us.

I charged electricity through our weapons but Mirage let go before the magic could hit her, I threw my sword to the side sending the weapons flying away from us, and they landed near the crest of the hill. Mirage spread her legs so that they were shoulder width apart and held her fists in front of her, I also assumed a fighting stance putting my left leg back and bringing my fists up.

Mirage charged at me and threw her left fist out, I brought my right arm up to block the strike and then launched my left fist at her stomach. Mirage blocked the attack with her leg and as we pushed against each other, eventually we ended up forcing each other back, giving us more room to move.

Mirage then turned and began to head for the crest where our weapons lay, I began to chase after her, pushing magic into my legs to increase my speed as she did the same. We reached the weapons and each pulled out our own and then clashed them against each other, initiating another power struggle before pushing ourselves back once more.

I sucked in a deep breath, this had been the hardest battle I had been in lately especially since my sister had no qualms about the likelihood of killing me with the strength she was using. Mirage swung her weapon around before sending it crashing towards me, I jumped into the air and used the wind to form a shield around myself which sent the wooden weapon flying back down when it clashing with the high speed winds.

Mirage caught the weapon, which was undamaged as the magic imbued within them easily repaired all witch weapons, Mirage then summoned black icicles and sent them flying towards me. I allowed myself to drop just as the icicles were in range and added a spark to the wind causing it to erupt into a flaming sphere which melted the dark element.

I landed on the grass which was being to melt from the effect that the Black Magic was having on it, I whispered a small prayer to the Triple Goddess before removing a bottle. I removed the stopper before using my telekinesis to bring out the Sacred Water to douse the poisonous water, preventing the grass from being obliterate and allowing the earth to be functional once again, I then returned the water and stopper to their place.

Mirage had used my healing process to rush at me and I was too late to block the blow when it crashed into my side and it sent me skidding across the grass. I returned the sealed bottle to my pouch and summoned my sword back to my hand as I stood up, ready to continue this battle.

Mirage re-joined her weapon and proceeded to charge at me, I prepared my weapon for the clash that was about to happen, however it never came as something – or rather someone – decided to interrupt.

A gunshot went off and landed right in front of Mirage preventing her advance, we both looked in the direction it came from and I was surprised to see the man in red – Dante I reminded myself – standing on the crest of the hill, the black gun held lazily in his hand and a smirk on his face.

"Well this is interesting," Dante commented. Mirage narrowed her eyes before she took off down the hill at an alarming pace, I was about to chase off after her when I was pulled back by a force, glancing down I saw that a leather clad hand was wrapped securely around my slim wrist. My eyes trailed up to find Dante holding me back, I snarled and ripped my hand from his grasp and jumped a good few feet away from him.

"Sheesh babe, no need to be so hostile. I did just save your life," Dante commented. The snarl didn't leave my lips as I walked up to him and stuck my sword under his chin and made it so that he was looking me in the eye, the look on his face was of mild surprise but that infuriating smirk was still plastered on his face.

"You didn't save my life, you caused my sister to run off when she's sick. I swear by the Maiden if it weren't for the fact that you'd live through it, I'd run you through," I hissed at the white haired man. I then turned and began to walk away from him, I pressed a hand to my chest wondering why my heart was beating so fast, it didn't make any sense I wasn't sick I knew that much so why was my heartbeat so erratic.

I continued away from Dante, and the strange reaction that he caused me to have, and further into the ruin littered hillside. The place reeked of evil and I could sense that it was the same evil that I had been chasing after, I now knew that Mirage had to be involved somehow. I became worried, it was almost impossible to brainwash a witch especially one with such a strong will as Mirage, so the question of how and who had been able to do it was plaguing my mind.

A twig snapped causing my head to snap up to see the two women from the orchard and another one, this other girl was far younger than the two women she hid behind, I could see that she had short brown hair pulled into a short ponytail and warm brown eyes, she wore a long sleeved, long white dress with the same emblem that, that boy wore on the sleeves of her dress.

"Yes?" I questioned wondering why these women were obviously following me.

"What are you?" The blonde asked. Her tone held no nonsense about and she was direct with what she wanted to know.

"That's none of your business," I responded. I then had to quickly dodge several gunshots that the dark-haired woman had fired at me, I then jumped up onto a ruined wall and gazed down at them from my perch. The sound of footsteps broke our staring contest when the boy from Fortuna appeared and he seemed surprised to see me, I jumped off the wall and took off, hoping to catch up with Mirage and leave those nuisances behind.