Chapter 7-

As soon as the light had died, Lady had returned to the forest. It seemed as if the light was only concentrated on the very core of the park, as it hadn't reached the streets at all. With her guns readied, Lady made her way towards the lake again, curious of what she might find. Her eyes scanned the environment, but there was no damage whatsoever. All the trees, plants, everything was still intact. Not even a single twig seemed to be out of place.

Lady frowned, growing more and more curious by the minute, but also unsure of what the find.

Every step was made with caution as she slowly reached started to near the center of the forest. She stopped when she noticed a shadow on the ground. When she looked closer it appeared to be a body. Not that of a unicorn, but of a dog…a golden retriever if she was correct. She frowned and kneeled down, yet still on her guard. Placing one gun in its holster, she touched the fur of the animals stomach with her free hand. She waited until she felt it rise and lower, rise and lower. It was still breathing. The dog was alive. Lady looked up and let her eyes wander over the path. More animals like the retriever at her feet lay scattered all over the forest ground, unconscious, sleeping. Where had all the zombies gone?

Lady pursed her lips, stood up and started walking again. There was something really weird going on…and that unicorn probably had all the answers.

Yet when Lady reached the lake, there was no unicorn in sight. It was dark, but the unicorn had been fluorescent white. It should be visible even in the darkness of the night. Lady narrowed her eyes and reached for a pouch on her belt, taking out a small flashlight. Clicking it on, she let the small white light glide over the forest following it with the barrel of her gun. Dirt.

Cat.

Cat. Bird. Human foot.

Grass.

Tree.

Wait a minute.

Lady let the light go back and again the human foot came into view. "What in the world…" she mumbled with a surprised and shocked look on her face. She moved towards the body fast, realizing that when she came closer it was in fact a woman; a naked young woman with long white blonde hair.

"Hey miss!" Lady called, kneeling down next to the body and placing a free hand on the females arm; the flashlight had been tugged away in its pouch again. Lady frowned at the ice cold skin under her fingertips, shocked when she realised what it could mean. Was she dead? "Hey, wake up. Miss?" she tried again, combing away some of the satin locks which covered the woman's face. Her eyes were closed, but in between her eyes Lady noticed something shiny. Her eyes narrowed. "What is this…" she mumbled, her eyes narrowing as bend over so she could reach for the shiny rock embedded on the skin of the woman's forehead. Precisely in the middle…exactly on the spot where the… A rustle coming from behind interrupted Lady's train of thought.

What was that? Lady stood up, her gun ready again. Perhaps some of the animals were waking up…

Again a rustle.

Lady turned around, her eyes were beginning to get quite accustomed at the darkness; they were focused on a bush only a few feet away. A short growl was heard. Lady tilted her head slightly. "Step…away." a hoarse voice said.

The gun moved from the bush to a nearby opening in the woods. Two shining red eyes flared up at human eye level. "Step away from her. Now."

Lady chuckled, an eyebrow raised. "Says who?" she replied, waiting for the demon to show himself.

"Says I." the eyes shone dangerously and a dark figure came stepping into few. Lady took in his appearance quickly. It was in human form, a head taller then her. His face looked old and worn out, eyes lay deep in their sockets and he had dark circles as if he's been having a bad night for weeks. His hair was black with streaks of grey and he was wearing a ridged looking mantel.

"Hm…I don't take orders from demons." Lady replied keeping her face serious.

The demon growled again and took a step closer. "Then you will die." At that the demon jumped forward out of its human form, changing into what looked like a werewolf.

Lady had already fired her gun, but it didn't scare the wolf as stormed towards her with devastating speed. Lady sucked in breath as she ducked out of the way, the wolf's claws missing her by an inch. She rolled over on her knees and fired again at the wolf, aiming for its torso, her thoughts with the mysterious woman behind her who at the moment she was protecting.

But for what, and from whom?

Who was she?

The wolf roared as the bullets sank in its flesh, blood leaked from the holes but they closed seconds later. "Damn." Lady whispered as she noticed this, biting her lip and whishing she had brought Kalina-Ann. Yet that was still lying in the trunk of her car. She groaned inwardly as the wolf charged her again and jumped out of the way, but not before the demon managed to rip a piece off of her white leather jacket. For a second Lady looked down at the ripped leather and noticed something that caught her attention, but right now she was to busy fighting off the demon. Her gun already pointed at the wolf´s head, she pulled the trigger, forcing a round of bullets into the demons brain. It snarled and shook it´s head, then turned and looked at her in anger.

Just before Lady wanted to shoot again she stopped as the demon slowly started to grow. She tilted her head and watched the wolf growing and growing inch by inch. What was he doing? She grabbed for her other gun and took a few steps aside, to stand closer to the unconscious female laying on the floor. She heard the bones crack and bend as the figure changed. The wolf started to stand up on two legs, its front paws growing bigger and more lethal. Its sharp teeth were becoming to big for its mouth and started sticking out in several direction.

"Hm…" Lady raised an eyebrow and looked back over her shoulder towards the unconscious girl. "I hope you have an all risk insurance, 'cause this is going to cost you."

"She doesn't." a male voice said, coming up from behind her. It took less then a second for Lady to point her gun at the newcomer's forehead as soon as she heard him speak.

"Dante…You should know better then to sneak up on people who are on their guard."

Dante smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "What's the worst that could happen? A bullet through the head? Been there babe."

Lady smirked, then nodded towards the naked female. "You know that girl over there?"

"Just a little. Now what do we have here?" Dante said as he looked at the growing werewolf in front of them. "Nice." he stated with a grin, nodding approvingly.

"You can't hurt him with guns. He regenerates."

"Hm…does he now." Dante rubbed his chin, grin still in place. "Guess I'll have to take him down another way." Dante reached for his sword and pointed the tip of it towards the now fully grown wolf. "Fluffy, sit!" Dante commanded.

Nothing happened.

"…Lay down!…heel?!…Nothing?" The wolf just stared and growled. "We really need to get him into one of those puppy courses." he said to Lady, who just shook her head and sighed.

"This is not the time for jokes, Dante." she said, slightly irritated.

"Oh alright, let's just…Whoa!" The wolf had charged, slower then before now that it had grown, but still pretty damn fast. Dante jumped out of the way, pulling Lady along with him. "Hey now that's not very nice, interrupting someone's conversation." Dante scolded, waving his sword at the wolf.

The dog growled, a deep voice boomed through the forest. "You idiot. You don't even know who you are protecting."

Dante raised his eyebrows. "Sure I do. She's lying right over there."

The demon laughed, although it sounded more like a bark. "She," he spat," is not who she says she is. She's lying to you 'devil hunter'."

"Oh really?" Dante asked, and shrugged. "So what, it doesn't really matter for you. I'll take you down anyway."

A snarl was heard and the wolf lowered on all fours, eying Dante with his red eyes dangerously. "You will fail. She was promised to me. She's mine."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, big guy. And frankly, I don't even care." Dante said. Gripping his sword tightly, he grinned. "Let's do this." he said and darted forward, slashing his sword at the front paws of his enemy.

Metal clashed together with granite hard claws, sparks flying everywhere. Dante grinned. "Pretty sharp, for a puppy." He ducked away when a paw flew towards him and jumped and sliced one of its toes off, claw and all. The wolf howled in pain and ducked forward with its muzzle, sharp teeth dripping with the anticipation to taste some fresh meat. The devil hunter rolled out of the way and as he got on his knees, he jumped on the wolf's head as it moved up. The demon turned, his eyes looking confused as he had lost sight of Dante.

"Hey, looking for me?" the devil hunter asked, as he bended over to look the wolf in one of his eyes from upside down. The wolf snarled and tried to grab him with his oversized paws, but missed and hit his eye instead. "Ghe, stupid dog." Dante muttered, slicing off another one of its toes.

It growled and started to shake its head rapidly in an attempt to throw the devil hunter off.

Dante grabbed hold of one of the wolf's ears and grinned manically. "Whoohoo! Oh yeah!"

Lady watched from the ground at the fight, wondering if she should help Dante take the wolf down. She decided against it, figuring Dante could hold its own. Lady remembered then her ripped leather jacket. Looking down, she touched the fabric where it had been slashed by the claws of the demon. The fabric was burned around the edges. It had actually burn quite a bit of a hole in the leather. "Ah, damn it." she cursed and sighed as she remembered how much money she had spend on the piece of clothing. Perhaps she shouldn't buy expensive outfits with the line of work she was in.

But the burnings were quite remarkable. What did it mean…? Lady looked up at the fight again, then noticed one of the claws lying on the floor. Dante had cut two of em off earlier. Lady walked over and knelt down, examining it with narrowed eyes. The tip of the nail appeared to have a black dot on it. Lady pursed her lips and looked down at her ragged jacked. Taking out a knife she had hit in her boot, she cut off a piece of leather and placed it on the ground. With her free hand she picked up the nail, a disgusted look on her face. Carefully not to cut herself she stabbed the nail through the piece of leather and watched what happened. Around the hole it had made, the leather started to burn away. Not as if it was on fire, but like someone had poured some kind of chemical fluid over it. "What in the…" Lady started, as she watched the entire piece burn away in front of her eyes. She looked up at Dante who looked like he was having a good time taunting the demon. Lady shook her head at his ignorance. "Dante!" Lady yelled. "Watch out for his claws! I think they might be poisoned."

Dante jumped over an incoming paw and slightly turned. "You don't say…" he said with raised eyebrows, a set of claws missing him by just an inch. "Just be careful!"

She turned towards the female and knelt down beside her body. Carefully she touched the porcelain skin again, testing the temperature.

Still cold, was she even breathing?

She placed her fingers in front of the woman's nose, after a few seconds she felt the hot air of breath hitting her fingertips.

"Still alive." Lady confirmed with a sigh of relief. She took of her jacket, revealing a black tank top, and placed it over the woman's shoulders and torso. It didn't cover up much, but it was better then nothing.

"Down boy!" Dante yelled when the wolf tried to whip Dante with its tail. Dante had just easily jumped over it. Actually, the demon was kind of starting to bore him. The half devil jumped over the tail again and charged, walking over the wolf's tail, trailing his sword behind him cutting the wolf's back open as he ran up. The demon roared out in pain, his eyes crossed when Dante reached the tip of its nose, looking straight into the barrel of the demon hunter's gun. "Bad dog." Dante said and pulled the trigger, filling the head of the demon with bullets.

The demon howled, his eyes turning pitch black and fading. Dante frowned as he suddenly felt the nose on which he was standing becoming somewhat soft and cloudy. He looked down just as the wolf had turned in a huge cloud of black smoke, completely disappearing into the night.

Dante managed to land on his feet. Standing up he watched the smoke vanish.

"What just happened?" Lady asked from just a few feet away.

Dante shrugged, a confused look on his face. "I have no idea…" His eyes went from the smoke, to the unconscious Maia. The conversation with the wolf had not left his mind. He had a lot of questions and he had a hunch that Maia was the only one who could answer them.

Lady took the female's wrist to check her pulse. "Do you think she'll make it?" she asked Dante, concerned about the girls tempature.

Dante shrugged and leaned over. "I don't think she can actually die…You see she's a…"

"Watch out!" Maia suddenly yelled, her eyes had shot wide open and she clearly directed towards something behind Dante and Lady. Dante spun around and jumped aside just to see a huge cloud of black dust in the form of a huge open mouth soaring through the air. It snapped close on the spot where Dante had stood and dissolved into thin air afterwards.

"Holy fuck…" Dante swore and laughed, scratching the back of his head with a hand. Maia let her head fell back to the ground and sighed in relieve.

"Never turn your back on him…Never." she whispered. Slowly she sat up. Lady´s jacket fell down, but her long hair falling on her back and covering her breasts; leafs and twigs falling…or more like gliding right of the locks of hair.

"You should not have come here." she spoke, eyes on the ground.

"Babe, I never skip a party." Dante said, grinning. Maia looked up, brown eyes locking with silvery blue ones.

"I didn't mean you, Dante." Her eyes moved to Lady. "It seems like I'm dragging more and more souls into this mess. I'm sorry, Mary."

Lady raised her eyebrows and gave Dante a quick glance.

Dante shrugged. "Mind reader." he explained.

"Ah, well that's nice." Lady commented sarcastically. "And thanks for your concern, but I can handle a little danger. Besides, I think that whoever was chasing you is gone now."

"You're wrong. He's not gone."

Dante frowned. "What are you talking about? Nergal is gone."

"No he's not." Maia said her voice fierce. "That wasn't Nergal. It was just a piece of him."

"A piece?" Lady asked. "Yes…a piece of his soul." Maia grimaced and let her head fall in her hands in a groan.

The diamond on her forehead shimmered a little. "It's been so long…" she mumbled and chuckled, "since I've had a headache."

"Really, Unicorns get headaches?"

Maia groaned.

Lady had positioned herself on Dante's couch, when Dante returned from his bedroom where had placed Maia on the bed. She had slipped into unconsciousness again on the way back and it looked like she would be out for a while.

Lady looked at him, her eyes asking all sorts of unanswered questions. "A unicorn?" she asked skeptically, still processing the information Dante had given her in the car on their way over. "Yep." Dante confirmed, walking over to one of the chairs and plopping down with a groan. "But there's probably something more behind all of this."

Lady nodded, staring ahead. "Probably." She had also heard the demon's words. "What did you say here name was again?"

"Maia." Dante said. "And the demon?"

"Nergal."

"Right…" she said, deep in thought. "I'll hit the books, see if there's anything I can find about her or that demon." "Good luck." Dante said, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back as he closed his eyes. "Tell me if something comes up."

Lady shook her head and stood up from the couch. "And to think I'm probably not even going to get paid for this." "Probably." Dante smirked. Lady squinted her eyes at him, a smile appearing on her lips. "Guess I'll just have to direct the bill to you, seeing as how she's staying here anyway."

Dante shot up straight. "What!? I don't have any money!" Lady just shrugged, smiled and left.

"Fuck."

R and R