Friends in High Places

by OnionDipshit

When a quirky young librarian from the one and only Limbo Public Library is almost killed on her way home, a heroic womanizing Dante saves her life. As the two become closer, Dante realizes that his family isn't the only one with a past. This girl is more than what she seems, and is ready to spread her wings and fly. Dante x OC.

4. My Frozen Aunt Katy

Limbo City Public Library, Limbo City, Six Thirty in The Morning, Severe Snow Storm

"What?" whispered Dante, rubbing his eyes like he was hallucinating. Handing him another flashlight, he snatched it and turned towards the outside. Dante ran out the door and splashed the exterior of the library with some Double A powered light, and he acted like it was the greatest thing he had ever seen. As he marveled at my poorly painted orange brick exterior, I rolled my eyes at his stupid games and walked over into the lobby.

"Louis!" I shouted, hopefully loud enough for the poor old man to hear me. "Louis, are you here? I'm going to take you back home with me and out of this cold! Louis?" I yelled for him loud and clear, but I didn't get a response. Well, if I did I couldn't hear it for Dante keeping the door wide-damn-open in this wind! Looking into the darkness of the library, I came to realize that my free keychain flashlight from 7-eleven's grand opening wasn't exactly the brightest thing in the world. I decided to go back to my desk and look for a candle or something before I accidentally tripped over Louis in the dark. Wandering behind the counter and around the corner, I remembered the lighter I'd bought for the "Block Party BBQ" that I had tried to host my first year on the job. Based on past tales, I'll just let you assume how well it went.

I sat outside with my grill underneath a big tent with tables, chairs, and everything. The radio was going, but that was pretty much the only sound coming from my friendly neighborhood party. The only people who showed up for a free cheeseburger were Andy, the moody cashier of the 7-eleven down the street, who had either gotten tired of eating corn dog rollers or was saving his money for a dime bag, and Louis, a hungry homeless guy who couldn't care less if it was a cheeseburger or a taquito. Andy kept trying to tell me about the headlights on his car, and how they kept turning off by themselves, which led him to believe that some guy he knew who had died was haunting him or something for dating his girlfriend or whatever. After a few minutes, the owner of the 7-eleven yelled at him to come back from across the street, and he finally left. About 2 hours later with no other visitors in between, Louis walked up the stairs, and I've been looking after him ever since.

Inside the bottom drawer of my desk was a big Christmas candle that I had never lit, and I pulled it out of its dusty plastic box and onto the counter. Right beside it laid my BBQ lighter, and I quickly grabbed it. The lighter in my hand squeaked as I let go of the black plastic trigger, and a small but welcoming flame began inside the round, pine scented Yankee Candle. A family friend of Daddy's had given this candle to me at the funeral, as if the scent of "Holiday Garland Medley" would somehow help me forget the fact that my entire family had just died. Even though I knew she meant well, at the time it was all I could do not to throw it against the wall. From what I can recall about the woman who gave it to me, she was a little bit odd anyway; a mousey woman who reminded me of a younger Betty White. I'm sure that she would be happy to know that I actually did find a use for it, even if it did take me 10 years.

After focusing for a while on finding a secondary light source, my attention fell once again onto Dante, who for some reason kept running in and out of the building like a chicken with its head cut off. To be honest with you, it was getting pretty annoying, and the wind that followed him in and out was blowing all the papers around on my desk, not to mention freezing me to death. It was even affecting the flame in the candle, and I thought for sure that it would go out. After a few seconds the abnormally huge gust of wind fell quiet, and the proud little bit of fire remained in the jar.

"Dante! Stop that!" I scolded, waving for him to come in out of the doorway. "What are you doing?"

He skulked up to the reception desk and grabbed me by the arm. "I think I know why I was blind to the library." he said, pulling me forwards. Practically having to climb over the reception area to catch up with him, I jogged over to the front door and let him outside first. As if he thought that I would just turn back around, he shouted, "Check this out." The frigid air on my face blasted through my thin pants, and I began to shiver again. The path we had trudged through the snow had widened with all of Dante's moving around, and I stalked through his new trail like a hunter does their prey; careful not to slip and fall. I found him on the corner of the library, with what looked like a huge piled up tarp.

"What the what?" I asked, pointing to it. Dante laughed and started picking up a corner of it. The fabric almost looked like something from a school play- like a backdrop. "I think this thing was made by a demon. Or at least some kind of witch." answered Dante in an experienced tone. He spread out the corner of the huge piece of fabric and held it out in front of him. "The reason I kept seeing an old abandoned house instead of your library is because of this thing. See?" On the tarp was what looked like some poorly painted shingles- the top of a roof. Dante fiddled around with the fabric some more until he found a window, which had been smeared to look smashed.

I approached him and felt the fabric for myself. It had the consistency of paint, but it almost felt... wet? "The paint's still wet!" I declared, rubbing my fingers together. "Oh, Dante, look at your hands!" My eyes were stuck on his fingers, which in the light of my flashlight were covered in bright red paint. Dante dropped the corner of the tarp and examined them for himself, an intensely puzzled look on his face.

"Red paint? The shingles were black and grey!" he croaked in eerie confusion. We both looked at the fabric just in time to see a disgusting, steaming puddle of burgundy melting through the snow. The red spread, the darker, blood-colored clots disintegrating into the seemingly endless lake of the hot liquid. Dante ran for me and pulled me out just as it reached the bottoms of my vans, where I could feel the grossly invasive heat of the mess in the very tips of my toes. Dante picked me up like a football and trudged quickly through the snow path and to the other side of the front lawn. From here we got a good look of the stuff, and a good whiff of a less than irksome stench that radiated from it soon after.

"Holy shit!" I exploded unceremoniously. "What is that, Dante? What happened to the tarp thing?"

The red puddle was starting to evaporate now, and the nasty steam was a terrible purple color that was so unnatural it made me want to gag. It was starting to heat up as it began to sizzle and scream against the icy cold ground. Suddenly the red liquid on mine and Dante's fingers began to flow back into the ground, and we were free of every last drop and stain from our skin. Before we knew it, the only thing left of the disgusting mess was the smallest pile of blackened-red sludge, which was surrounded by a large circle of resurfaced grass from where it had melted all of the snow. We ran back over to it and watched the shadow shrink and shrink back into the ground, seeping through to hell.

When it looked like it couldn't have gotten any smaller, it seemed to have gotten so hot that it hardened. A sheen covered the new little jet black jewel, and a final puff of smoke squeaked out of its perfectly rectangular form. Dante quickly bent over to pick it up and turn it over in his hands. I held up my flashlight and bathed the shadowed diamond in the light. We looked at each other in disbelief, handing the stone back and forth until it ended up in my hands. "It's blacker than black." I whispered, caught up in its tiny grandeur. "Do you know what this is? Do you know anything about it at all?"

"Not really," mumbled Dante looking down above me. "I just know that really powerful demons can use human blood to create things, but usually it's their weapons. I've never seen a demon try to cover something up using blood spells."

I looked at him wide-eyed in total disbelief. "You mean that huge wave was actually made up of human blood?" I pointed to the still steaming spot in the grass. Dante looked at me with a bit of sadness in his eyes and nodded. My breathing trembled and a shiver shot down my spine. It felt like my stomach wasn't even there anymore as my mind raced with horrible ideas on where they had reaped their clay.

"When a person dies whose soul is sent to Hell, a demon can use their blood and their flesh for the Devil's bidding." told Dante quietly. "This means that every demon that you have come across in this realm, the living world, were once living human beings. If the demon inside of them were to leave those bodies they would fall down dead and lifeless. But after a while of a demon possessing a human's body, they begin to resemble the demons themselves, like the one in the alley way with you last night." He looked at me for a second, but then back at the stone. "Because human bodies are a powerless form, demons use the body's blood to aid them while in this plain. The body is already dead- it doesn't need it to live anymore. This demon though, used up the blood of multiple others to create this huge covering." he paused for a second. "It must be one of the higher ups in the city government who did this. That I know of, city government, Kyle Ryder Trading in Silver Sacks Tower, and that fuckin' dick Bob Barbas are the elite demons in this town. Only one of them would have been powerful enough to do this and get away with it."

I blinked at the huge amount of information I had just been given and crossed my arms in contemplation. "Get away with it? You mean multiple demons, their own kind, were used to make this stone?" I wrapped my fingers around it all the tighter, surprised that it wasn't burning me like Dante's stone did.

Dante nodded and watched me put the blackness into my coat pocket. He knew what I was doing; saving it for later. "Yeah. There has to be at least six or seven in there." He zipped up his coat and stuffed his gloved hands in between his crossed arms. "Who knows, Bellatrix. We might be able to use that to make something of our own if we needed it."

I got to thinking about the tarp covering up the library, and how long it had been there. While it did work in stopping people from visiting, it didn't stop everybody. I mean, we had a few regulars. At least 5 or 6 people a day. What about them? Could they see through the disguise? And then there were the total strangers that would show up for the Bible. Now I know for certain that they were demons, if no normal person could find my library in the first place...

"Dante, how come Louis and most of my patrons couldn't see the tarp? Why couldn't I see it until it fell apart in front of me?" I asked.

He gave me a look and examined me from head to toe. "Isn't it obvious?" he questioned sweetly. "It's because of your goodness."

"My goodness?" I repeated quietly.

"Yeah. Bellatrix, even though you've taken so much shit, your heart's still pure and innocent. You go to church?"

"Yes. To Redeemer Lutheran just up the street from my house." I provided in an inviting tone.

Dante smiled brightly. "That's it right there. You still worship God. And, honestly, I have no idea how you do it." he chuckled in disbelief.

I gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean? He is my creator, and everything in my life has happened because of him."

"Exactly. All of this crap-" he began counting on his fingers, "losing your parents, your family, the near-death experiences-"

I interrupted him before he could go any farther. "But you're forgetting Dante, how much I still have to be thankful for!" Everything about him slammed to a halt, as if what I had just said was truly unbelievable. He put his arms down, and his face relaxed, and I knew that I needed to continue. "I am educated, I am wealthy, I have a home. Yes, I lost my parents. Yes, I lost my family. But at least I got to experience their love and that relationship while it lasted. Yes, I nearly died several times, but I didn't! Those times made me strong and aware. Out of those times came my powers, which Mother might not have ever taught me otherwise. Without those protection spells who knows how Louis would have survived outside on this bench all these years. God has a plan for everyone, Dante. You just have to go along with it. It's these experiences that make you the person that you are, good or bad. And for this uniqueness we must give thanks."

After my little religious rant, Dante remained emotionless, unsure of what to think. I didn't care what this summed me up to be in his eyes, but I hoped that what I had said affected him in some way. Eventually, he shook his head and grinned, and I knew that his idea of me had not changed. I returned my thoughts back to the black crystal I was twirling around in my coat pocket. I pulled it out again and held it up to him.

"Maybe we could shove this right up the guy's ass who tried to hide my library from the city. He tried to discourage me and run me out of business, but there's no way in hell I'm backing down now. Not when I'm just starting to figure out what's causing this to happen to me." I flipped around towards Dante and formed a little fist. His smile widened at my intensity and mine did too; I had found another purpose in my life, and for the first time in years I had a person beside me who truly understood what I was going through. Out of my joy at newfound determination, I wrapped my arms around Dante and gave him a much deserved hug. "Thank you, Dante! I never would have found this without you."

He picked me up and twirled me around, laughing. "You're so cheesy, and so welcome at the same time." Instead of putting me down he flung me over his shoulder and began walking back towards the library's front door. "You know, this place doesn't look that half bad. Maybe a little paint, a few plants. It'd be a pretty decent spot."

I laughed from behind his head. "You want a library card? I can sign you up right now for free!"

Before setting me down back inside the lobby, Dante gave me a nice slap on the backside and a chuckle. "Come on, girly. Let's see if Louis's somewhere around." He took his flashlight out of his back pocket and turned it on again, pointing it down the first and second line of shelves. "By the way, you have a great ass for a librarian. Especially when you're flattening it out on those church pews every Sunday."

I laughed a little bit too excitedly and blushed at his remark, but I didn't turn around to show him - he couldn't see how pathetically happy I was to know that I had an acceptable butt. Instead I grabbed the candle and moved it to a center table full of books on display. With the orange glow now resting in the middle of everything, I grabbed my keychain light and motioned for Dante to follow me. "Bring that flashlight over here. Louis can't hear thunder anymore, and I'd rather see him before I stepped on him taking a nap or something. Here, let's just trade. I know exactly where he'd be, but it just so happens to be surrounded in foot murdering Legos."

Dante traded the long metal flashlight for the 7-eleven cheapy, and I quickly directed us towards the children's section of the library. Now that I thought about it, I had no idea how creepy this place is with all the lights off (and how much I needed to dust). It looked exactly like how I described it to people: incredibly decrepit, broken, and underused. As Dante and I walked past the public computers, I called out to Louis once more. "Louis? Louis, are you there?"

Nothing. Dante behind me commented, "This guy must be straight up deaf."

I laughed through my nose and assured him that he really was. "He's a Vietnam War vet. He was in the battle of Khe Sanh, constantly firing a M67 Anti-tank rifle right beside his head for 5 months straight."

"That'll do it for you," admitted Dante.

When we reached the bookcases at the edge of the children's section, I immediately shined my light through the mess of toys and clutter over to the bean bags. They were still stacked in his pile for bedding, but from a distance I couldn't tell if he was lying there. I meandered through the trainset, the spilled building blocks, and a Clifford book which I promptly put back on the shelf. Shaking my head at the mess, I made it to the edge of the bean bags.

"Louis! Wake up and let me take you home," I cooed, bending down to grab his hand. Before I could though, Dante pulled me up and back away from him.

"Bellatrix, there's something wrong." he shouted. "Look!"

Dante shown his light over the makeshift bed, and underneath Louis' big puffy coat were long, red lines of blood. I screamed and ran to him, finding his shoulder and flipping him over to face me. I held my flashlight shakily over my head to get a better look at Louis, and I definitely didn't like what I saw. He had been beaten- his eyes red and swollen shut, and his skin spotted in massive purple, green and blue bruises. His nose was visibly broken and so smashed that the cartilage had slightly pierced its way through the skin. His mouth and chin were covered in blood and bile, as if he had thrown it up.

"Louis!" I shouted, shaking him for a response. After a second I stopped myself and held a finger to his wrist, checking for a pulse. My hands were sweaty and trembling, and my eyes were too full of tears to see how badly injured the rest of his body was. "Oh God!"

Before I knew it Dante had picked me off of him again and pulled me off to the side, setting me down against the wall. At first I fought him to get back to Louis's body, but he overpowered me and held me tightly against him. With my face against his chest my cheek accidently touched his necklace and scalded me badly. I cried out and moved through his enveloping arms to get off of the boiling hot stone. Grabbing my face I fell backwards onto the carpet and let out a blood-curling scream. It was spreading into my eyes!

"Fuck!" Dante cried as he quickly peeled off his necklace and stuffed it into his pocket. "Bellatrix I'm so sorry!" He snatched me up off of the blood-soaked carpeting to get a look at my bubbling skin. I felt like the heat was going to go straight through me, and I sat there smoldering in complete agony.

"Bellatrix, you gotta heal yourself. Come on, you gotta heal yourself." shouted Dante, holding on to me for dear life. I felt my tears evaporating instantly as they touched the stone-shaped fire on my cheek and eye, and I knew that I needed to focus on my spell and fast. Even though I was in so much pain that I couldn't stop screaming, a combination of the loss of my friend and the wound, I retreated inwardly to build up enough stamina for a purification circle. I covered my face with my furiously shaking hands and tried to bring the white energy outward. I felt the fluid in my eyes start to boil before I was finally able to call on my strength. A breathtakingly bright light erupted from my wound as it sizzled to a halt. After a few seconds I could feel the skin rejoining and the vision in my eye returned to me. When everything was back to normal I was drenched in sweat and totally exhausted from the pain. My arms dropped to the ground as my body trembled in the arms of Dante, unable to move.

My breathing was shaky and deep from my mouth as my lungs begged for more air. The hair around my forehead was stuck to my skin from the sweat, and I could feel the droplets swirl around my eyes and down the sides of my face. My heart was pounding in my chest, and the muscle spasms wouldn't stop. My eyes drifted to Dante's whose blue ones were focused on me in an intense sign of worry.

"Holy shit! I am so sorry!" repeated Dante, angry with himself for forgetting about the necklace. He let out a sigh of relief and held me against him again, the stone now safely in his pocket. My hard breaths ricocheted off of his chest, and I could feel how quick his heart was beating with mine. "I thought I lost you there for a second."

Weakly I was able to wrap my arm around his neck, and he picked me up off of the ground and into his arms. I looked at him straight in the eye and frowned slightly. In the pit of my stomach there remained a part of me that still had hope for Louis, and I needed to see if my foolish sense of hope and faith was right. "Dante," I muttered breathily. "Is Louis still alive?"

Dante gave me a sorrowful look, hesitant to break my heart. "No, Bellatrix." he whispered. "Louis is dead. I'm sorry, but we got here too late."

Immediately my face changed into one of sheer devastation and huge hot tears rolled down my face in waves. My eyes were stinging, and my mouth opened into an empty scream for him. I grabbed a hold of Dante's shirt and twisted it up in my hand, as if he could keep me grounded in my little sea of dispair. In response Dante held me all the tighter against himself, and I folded into him like a ball. I turned my head to look at Louis once more, but it was too dark in here to see him without a flashlight, and Dante wasn't about to let me do that. Instead he stood there in the freezing darkness of the library and carried me like a baby, not once complaining or wanting me to stop. He stood there and let me cry for as long as I needed.

"It's all my fault!" I groaned. "This whole thing is my fault!"

Dante turned his face down towards mine and gave me a scowl. "Bellatrix, of course it wasn't your fault! Don't be ridiculous!"

"Yes it was!" I shouted into his chest. "I could have come down here and-"

"Bellatrix! There's no way that you could have possibly known that this was going to happen. This isn't your fault dammit!" Dante gave me a stern look. "Now stop beating yourself up about it. You've probably saved that old man's life a dozen times before anyway! He was homeless and you took him in and treated him like one of your own."

My head hurt I was crying so hard, and I didn't respond for a long time. But when I did it was in a whisper. "He loved it here," I recalled pitifully. "At least he died where he was happy the most."

Dante pulled me away from him a little and stood me up back on my feet. "That's my girl," he said. "That's one of the best gifts you can give a man. A long life and a home to come back to when it's over." He ran a hand through my big black curls and wiped away my tears with his thumb. For a minute we just stood there looking at each other, my brown eyes latched to his sapphire blues. Looking at him helped me to stop crying.

"Thank you for saying that, Dante." I whispered, looking over his face.

He smiled sadly for me and turned me back around while he covered Louis's body with his little red plaid blanket. He returned to my side and grabbed my arm, guiding me back to the front of the library like a boyscout and an old lady crossing the street. I didn't look at where we were going, I only focused on the knight that was Dante, here to rescue me from this devastation. Examining his tenacious and miraculous spirit, I found myself at that moment fully in love with him and all he had done for me. From meeting him five hours ago to now, my perception of him had completely transformed, and for that newfound knowledge and appreciation of his person I was truly grateful. Dante was someone that you can easily misjudge and crucify, but with a little conversation and a couple slices of pizza, this man had turned into someone that I couldn't picture myself living without.

Slowly I stopped walking and stood staring at him on my arm. He turned around to see if something was wrong and peered at me cautiously. After a few seconds I smiled at him sweetly, and he returned the favor to me.

"What?" he chuckled softly, looking at my pathetic little frame.

I blushed at the thought of what I was doing, but I pressed on. "... I just," I said through the tears, pausing to grin to make me stop crying.

Dante gazed at me, pushing a curl back behind my ear, which of course just bounced back into place over my eyes. I leaned against him and moved my unsteadied grip down from his arm into his hands. His face got close to mine, and the desire to kiss him sparked dramatically within me. There was a closeness there that I hadn't felt in such a long time. It was the same comfort that you feel when wrapped up in a warm blanket, or when you're sitting around the table sharing stories with your family. Inside me my heart began its quick pace once again, and a wave of heat rushed to my cheeks, nose, and lips. I wanted this feeling to go on forever, and I quickly became addicted to its presence and geniality.

His hands were so much bigger than mine that they engulfed them in skin and fingers and bone. They were smart hands, knowledgeable of many skills and experienced in them all. There was a strongness there that reminded me of something chivalrous. Across the tops of his hands were veins that traveled boldly upward into his forearms, and his street-wise athletic build made me feel protected. I couldn't help but smile widely in the face of this man- my savior and my friend. My tears were now tears of gratefulness.

My face brightened out of sadness and transformed into one of satisfaction, and an intensity to continue down this road. I had too many reasons now not to go and find the demon who was hunting down my family and friends. My mood sharpened into my own kind of courage, and I was ready for whatever had to happen. I was ready to kill it. The demon - both mental and physical - was acting up more frequently now, and I knew that this was my one and only chance to destroy it just as it had done to everything and everybody in my life. 23 years of my life had been spent trying to hide the memories of my past, but now I needed to dig up the clues to finding my family's killer. Soon it would be over. I could feel it.

Dante saw my change in demeanor and squeezed my hands tight, waiting for me to make a move. "You just what?" he mumbled coyly, as if talking to a child. He gave me his signature snear and a wink.

"I just wanted you to know that I appreciate and love you, Dante." I blushed for him, wiping my wet face with my free hand. After I told Dante, the devilish grin usually planted on his face disappeared. I was hesitant to continue now, but I knew that he valued honesty. "You are an invaluable friend to me, and-"

"Stop." he interrupted coldly, still holding onto my hands. I got nervous, and I instantly felt regret for what I had just said. His hawk-eyes were focused indefinitely on me, looking me up and down, examining me.

"What I tell you is the truth, Dante." I tried to let go of his hand, but he held on with no intention of letting me go anytime soon. All of a sudden, I felt a huge gust of icy cold wind, as if someone had opened the front door of the library. Slowly, Dante turned around to get a look at the lobby. An eery white glow came from behind the wall and covered everything inside with a thin film of light. Flakes of snow spread around into the air and onto the floor, and the sound of crackling and expanding ice echoed through the building, until it finally creeped around the corner and became visible on my desk and cuckoo clock. Chill bumps instantly covered my skin as Dante hurriedly pulled me behind a bookcase.

I got down and peaked just above the top of the thing, until finally the front doors of the Library were visible. For some reason, I thought that my vision was going blurry, as everything seemed to be discolored or out of place. On closer inspection I came to realize that everything looked like it had been nearly destroyed and hastily put back together again, and a strange red illumination shown brightly from the windows. For a second I thought that I was hallucinating, but this hauntingly creepy environment was entirely too real looking not to believe.

"Don't worry, you didn't hit your head or anything." whispered Dante hastily, as if he had just gotten through reading my mind. "You've been dragged into Limbo with me by whatever it is that's standing over there by the entrance."

I cocked my head over in Dante's direction and gave him an incredibly questioning stare. I quickly snatched my eyes away from his face and onto the massive broadsword that had just randomly appeared strapped to his back. "Limbo? ...As in Purgatory?" I scream-whispered back to him, eyes wide. He flashed me a cheesy grin and gave me a nod for yes. I swallowed, tears suddenly dried.

"You're gettin' ready for a show, sweetheart." He pulled out the two twin guns from his belt and held them up beside his head like some kind of a gunfighter. "Don't freak out. All we have to do is shoot this fucker and we're out." He pointed his gun towards the double-doors, motioning to get a look at the demon. I did as he said and poked my head up a bit to get a look-see.

The temperature in this nightmaric version of the library had dropped tremendously within just a few minutes. I began to shiver as I watched the room slowly become covered in thin sheets of ice. The swirls of snow that had warned us of the demon's presence were starting to pile up as a layer on the floor, and I began to realize that pretty soon this building was going to look like something straight out of Star Wars Episode V.

With my eyes barely peaking over the bookcase, I was taken aback by what I saw. Not 40 feet away from us stood a woman as white as snow; her skin was pale and glowing like the moon, and her hair and clothes were just as cryptically ashen. Her face was contorted and expressionless, never moving and always looking forward. She looked like she had been beaten to death, just like Louis. The demon had probably heard all of the commotion I caused after finding Louis's body and had returned to investigate. Well, if she was, she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Her eyes were looking straight at the back wall and nowhere else.

Watching the thing levitating there was starting to make me feel extremely uncomfortable. Her wasted and bloodless body seemed to be suspended in water, as her hair reminded me of mine swimming at the lake, and her arms and legs looked like a child's when they are pretending to be dead. Although she was obviously dead, the body could have easily been that of a loving mother, as her ragged clothes were gentle and tasteful; a sundress and sweater, like what you would wear on the boat. But first and foremost, the woman looked like a corpse who had been in the water too long. Her features had been obscured. The woman looked like a floater.

Even though it's perfectly natural to say that 'something's off' when describing a demon, there was something off about this one without question. She seemed hauntingly familiar, much to my dismay. Like a friend from kindergarten that you see once again at graduation. You know them - you were close to them - but it was such a long time ago. At least ten years ago, I calculated out of nowhere.

"Dante," I whispered. "... I think she wants to talk to me." I said, the disgusting feeling compelling me to get closer.

"What? No!" he replied, giving me a questioning look. "Don't do something stupid like that."

"But I feel like I've seen her before. She looks so familiar to me." I blurted out, slightly louder than I meant.

Dante quickly looked back at the demon to make sure that it didn't hear, and then back at me to make sure that I wasn't insane. I gave him the most sincere face I could muster, until finally he said, "Where have you ever seen something like that creepy bitch, Bellatrix? You got a death wish or something?"

I looked back over at the woman and tried to remember. Suddenly, the image of Dante came into my head, when he told me that demons can use dead human bodies as their own. That's when I pieced it together. When my aunt and uncle and their children drowned at sea, my aunt Katarina was the only one whose body was never recovered. I guess that this demon found it before any of the search and rescue teams did.

I felt sick. My stomach was in knots as I looked at her shell now; after all these years it looked like she had been mended and put back together again multiple times by the demon's powerful ice and snow. Katarina had been battered and beaten, like the sail of a ghost ship.

I turned back around to face Dante. "It's my aunt! That demon has possessed my aunt's body." I whispered sadly. "Oh God... I need to finish this for her and put what remains of her body to rest."

My mind wandered to memories of the beach house in Maine. How Aunt Katy used to braid my hair and paint her nails a different color every 3 days. How she used to wear the prettiest clothes, and when I visited them how she used to let me stay up late to watch Casablanca and The Big Sleep. Humphrey Bogart was her favorite actor; she owned every movie he ever starred in. Every year for my birthday she bought me a leather-bound notebook with my initials in it for my drawings. She showed me the tattoo she got one night in college, a dragonfly that only a bottle of Centenario Tequila and an ex-boyfriend could conjure.

Katarina was a beautiful person who gave me memories that I will cherish forever. Even though her spirit had left her- the Katarina I knew- the body she had lost was still going. The very thought of it was violating. It was like this demon had tried Aunt Katy on like a new pair of shoes and decided she suited him. I clenched my fists and shut my eyes, trying to get the idea out of my head.

Dante's eyes widened for a second at the thought of just how much shit I had to slog through, but then his face came to rest at a place of hesitant resignation. "They'll do anything just to screw with you, huh? ...Those demon scum." Dante pulled out a dagger from his jacket pocket and handed it to me. "Listen, I get why you would want to do this, but just let me handle this."

How dare you intrude on my family's business, I thought briefly, not wanting him to take away my one chance at redemption in the eyes of my family. "At least let me help you." I spat. "Here, let me cast something." I snatched the dagger up in my hand and summoned up my energy again, this time moving it through my veins and every little cell that made up my fingers. With this angelic glow I poured my gift into the knife and transformed it into my weapon of choice. Within seconds the blast of light was over, and in my hand sat a noble white gladius that was sharp enough to cut any demon in half. I grinned over at Dante, who seemed absolutely fascinated. I held it out to him with pride.

"Since antiquity the gladius has been destined to lead the greatest army ever known. Even as angels, the race of my mother is charged with living in the world of man, and as such we must adapt to aid God's children. The gladius, the supposed invention of man, was created at the time of gods in the golden empire that was Rome. In reality, the parts of those worshipped were played by we angels and demons, who were closer to mankind then than in any other age. The weapons of the angels -designed by Father God himself for the protection of man- was the gladius, and through this ancient connection we had with them, the sword was introduced to our favorites in Rome. Arming their legionnaires with the gladius, Rome conquered the known world and ruled for 507 years, worshiping us as their gods. But in the words of Tacitus, 'All things atrocious and shameless flock to Rome', and the once great civilization crumbled in the face of envy, lust, convolution, and greed. While man has abandoned the Holy Weapon for more sinful and destructive designs, the angels have kept the gladius as their own, perfect blade." I told him in a whisper, hesitant to gain the demon's attention, but obliged to tell him it's story. "This blade is my life Dante- my family. I have to do this myself."

Dante swallowed, now realizing the weight of my weapon. After a long pause, he slowly stuck out his hand as if to take my sword. "Listen. I know that you want to represent your family in this fight, but after all that's happened tonight I'm not convinced that you can."

"Dante, I-"

"Shut up, babe!" he interrupted angrily. "I'm trying to save that beautiful ass of yours. Now quit whining and listen."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe my ass doesn't need saving. You ever think of that? I'm not just some PMS princess watching Netflix up in the tower waiting for prince charming to kill the dragon for me."

Dante shook his head and laughed in disbelief. "Alright then, princess. Forgive me for wanting to save you from getting beat to shit."

"Give me a break! I can hold my own!"

"Bellatrix! You're fucking exhausted! You won't last a minute if that thing decides it wants a piece." he said, pointing to my chest. "You don't know what that thing's gonna do."

I was adamant, and I clutched the sword to my chest, refusing to give it up. Without saying a word, I stood on my own two feet and turned to face Aunt Katy with the gladius by my side. Not but two seconds later, Dante jumped up and grabbed me by the arm, trying to pull me back down. With all my might, I broke free of him and glared at him, unmoving. Surprisingly he didn't try it again, and I quietly thanked him with a tiny grin.

About forty feet away from us with a few bookcases and desks in between us stood - or levitated, rather - my beaten and bruised Katarina. Now we had caught her attention for sure, as her crooked head had turned on its icy swivel to focus on the two troublemakers. The coldness in the room was showing us our breath now, but not the demon's. It was undead. It breathed on its own time.

Slowly, I moved towards her, sword held to the side in a passive-aggressive funk. My curly mop of black hair was crazy - I could catch a glimpse of my mane in the mirror of my office door. Every bit of me looked exactly like Dante's most recent description: a fucking exhausted crazy bitch. Hmph. Well, at least I wasn't possessed.

"Finally," spoke the ghost through Katarina's slacking mouth. "I have caught the last child of the Moses family in the most vulnerable position of a lifetime." Her voiced gargled like there was still water in her throat, and her impossible lips were a deadly shade of frostbiten blue. When she looked at me now, I finally realized that her eyes were glowing the most nauseating color of orange imaginable. I started to sweat from my heart beating so fast.

"Tell me, Bellatrix, why didn't you listen to your little friend here and run while you had the opportunity?" asked Katarina coyly. "You haven't slept in 37 hours, you're frozen to the bone, your pet just died, and you just entered Limbo for the first time in 17 years. What makes you stand a chance against me?"

Dante reentered my frame of vision and pulled out his two handguns with a ca-click. Aiming them directly at Katarina, Dante, with his usual sense of bravado, answered, "Because she's the head-fuckin'-librarian, and last time I checked, you're way overdue."