Time for a short interlude to see what the folks at Devil May Cry have been up to since the last time we saw them.
No Rest for the Wicked
It was late in the afternoon when Dante got back to Devil May Cry. After he had checked out the latest crime scene and gotten a look at the FBI agents on the case, the hunter had searched Capulet's northern warehouse district for any sign of the demons behind the kidnappings. He had cleared out a number of demon infestations, including a large nest of Blood-goyles, but had found no sign of the girls.
Patty's constant efforts to keep Devil May Cry clean were evident as Dante walked through his shops doors to see its sparkling clean interior. As he headed over to his weapons wall, Dante's cell chimed. Absently putting up Rebellion on the wall, he pulled out the phone and checked the message.
It was from Lady, informing him that she and Trish had searched downtown without luck, and were heading back to Lady's apartment to wait for Patty. Dante sent back a short reply and tossed his keys on the desk and his pistols in one of the drawers. With a relieved sigh, the half-devil sat down and put his feet up on his desk, intending to catch a few hours of sleep before heading out once more.
The loud sound of a slamming door woke Dante from his nap, a quick glance at the clock informing him that he had gotten barely an hour and a half of sleep before his abrupt awakening. The cause was the young man now making his way through the shop.
With his white hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, the man could have been a younger version of Dante himself. His name was Nero, a Devil Hunter of Sparda's blood. Originally part of Fortuna's Order of the Sword, Nero had chosen to spend time in Capulet while the uproar over the events surrounding Sanctus's betrayal a few months before died down. Dante had been quick to seize the opportunity to send the younger hunter on the well-paying but less appealing jobs that Dante got offered, demanding a portion of the payment in exchange for Nero's room and board.
At the moment, Nero was a mess. Blood and gore in a multitude of colors stained the hunter's coat and matted his hair. On parts of his exposed skin, a blue-black substance had dried and was starting to flake off. Even the light from his Devil Bringer was dimmed from the thick layers of gore that coated it from fingertips to elbows.
"Ran into some trouble, kid?" Dante teased, smirking.
"Piss off, old man," Nero snarled. "Why the hell do I always end up on the most disgusting missions!?" He grimaced as he pulled his sodden coat away from his body.
"Because the newbie always gets the worst assignments," Dante quipped. "Did you manage to find anything while you were rolling around in demon guts?"
"Over a dozen nests of demon bugs, a handful of Soul Eaters, and a big, ugly son of a bitch that literally exploded when I killed it," Nero reported. "The abandoned train station was a bust for the girls, though."
"I went through the north warehouses, and Lady just checked in to say that they're not in downtown, either. That just leaves the western warehouses to search before they grab their eighth sacrifice."
"Eighth!" Nero exclaimed, shocked. "They only had six this morning."
"They took another girl this afternoon," Dante explained, "and Lady says that we only have 'til just past midnight before they sacrifice the girls."
"Shit!"
"Tell me about it." Dante shook his head. "Take a shower, kid, and then try to get some rest before we head back out again."
"Good idea." Nero tugged at a strand of once-white locks. "Ugh, it's in my hair!" He stalked off to the bathroom, complaining all the while.
With Nero gone, Dante decided to take his own advice. Grabbing one of the fashion magazines that Patty always left laying around, he turned to the women's lingerie section, settling in for another hour or two of rest. At least that had been the plan, until three FBI agents walked into his shop a few minutes later.
Somewhere else in the city, seven young blonde girls, frightened, dirty and half-starved, huddled together on a stained and ratty mattress. Suddenly, the door to their tiny, damp and filthy dirt room opened, and a hideous monster pushed in another girl.
"You're gonna regret this!" the new girl shouted at the closed door. "Just you wait. In a few hours, they'll find us and then you'll be sorry!" A few kicks to the door punctuated her words.
Her righteous fury exhausted, she turned around and smiled at the other girls. "Don't worry," she assured them. "I know the people looking for us. We'll be out of here soon, trust me."
"You sure?" one of the other girls asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Of course! Dante's the best! He'll get us out of here in no time." You hear that, Dante, the girl thought. You had better get us out of here.
