"I don't see signs of anything." Trish said as she climbed to her feet, dusting her hands off on her pants. Dante scowled. "You're not looking hard enough." He said coldly, looking to the left, and then to the right. Trish's only dignified response was to scoff in his direction. "Then you come up with a logical explanation for how this kid literally vanished into thin air. And if Mundus has him, like you say that he does, how exactly do we find him?"

"He's four stories high. He's pretty fuckin' hard to miss." Dante snapped in response. The retort caused a brief flare of temper from Trish, who choked on a hard reply, and was separated from Dante by Lady, manually. "Alright, ladies, break it up." The darker haired woman said coolly. "Every minute you spend fighting among yourselves is one less minute that Nero is going to stay alive, if he's alive at all."

That had Dante's attention, and he pivoted away from Trish immediately, heading down the street in search of more signs. A cracking sound from behind him instinctively turned Dante's attention, Ebony in his grasp. One quick shot was fired, and the sound of a screech followed the spilling of dark blood into the alley. Dante snarled and kicked the corpse, the corpse of Kyrie staring lifelessly up at him. The real Kyrie, who had been tailing the group, hoping she could help in some way, stared at it.

Dante grumbled something obscene, kicking it hard again, only for the corpse to fizzle into that of a dark gray demon creature, lying dead on the pavement. "Shape shifter." Trish said under her breath, setting a hand on the curve of her hip. "That would explain the Kyrie alibi for his disappearance. Everyone in town could verify that they saw Kyrie in hysterics, because that's what they thought they saw. No one went looking for him because of it." Dante made another sound, and grabbed his sword, jabbing it into the demon's chest just for spite.

Mundus was around here somewhere…or something of his was…and where they found Mundus, they'd find Nero. At least that was the assumption. The demon slayer turned his head and placed a hand against the cold brick of the building framing the alley way. There had to be some way to track that kid… Trish watched her former partner carefully, and chewed her lower lip thoughtfully. Demons had certain abilities, she knew, they had certain things they could do, certain senses that were more powerful than those of humans. Even if Dante was a half blood, there was a chance, he still had some of this power.

A half an hour later, Dante was being forcibly dragged into the shop, and Trish disappeared into the back of the building, returning a moment later with a black garment that looked like a t-shirt. Dante's icy gaze narrowed distinctly. "And what am I supposed to do with that?" Trish stuffed the garment in his face. The half blood demon recoiled. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Sniff it."

"What?!" He said sardonically, staring at her like she'd lost her mind. "It's Nero's, which means it's got his scent on it. Can you follow scent?" Dante was silent for a minute or two, and then crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know."



"What do you mean you don't know, Dante? That's a demon asset. Can you follow a scent or not?" The demon slayer snatched the shirt from her. He could honestly say he had no idea whether or not that would work, but to find Nero, it was worth a try. Sure enough, Nero's scent was potently ground into the fabric of the shirt, the essence of both his natural scent and of his spicy-sweet cologne flooded Dante's senses. He dropped the garment and headed out the door again. Oh yeah…he could follow it.

--

The musty smell of a cavern assaulted his olfactory senses, the damp, cool air stirring Nero into a state of hazy consciousness. His fluorescent blue eyes opened slowly, his vision blurred, and his head throbbing. The young male made to move, only to find that he was bound somehow, by the arms, it felt like. He could still wiggle his feet, thought not too far, so he suspected that he was tied around the ankles. Nero's arms were bound above his head in what felt like leather straps, but when he made to weaken or break them, they didn't budge. What were those things made of, anyway? Nero made a strangled noise and twisted around, finding that he was surrounded by a glass like substance keeping him in a fish tank like tube. The air he'd felt was coming from the top of the tube, which was open, revealing that they were in a ruin of some sort, covered in moss and lichens.

Where was he, he wondered? The last thing he remembered was waking up in the spare room in the back of Dante's shop, and then a shock going up his spine. His demon arm ached, he realized, and he could feel the faint blue glow it was putting off. Upon looking up, Nero's eyes widened at the presence of another, standing at the front of the glass encasement. It looked to be male, and hooded, though when the hood was removed, a third eye glowed blue from the center of his forehead. Nero twisted around in the binds, kicking his now bare foot into the encasement, only to meet pain and a futile thudding noise. The figure laughed. "Such a spirited young man. I suppose I can see the bastard son's attraction." Nero's eyes narrowed. "Dante—"

"Ah…Dante…also a determined creature. Just like his father, who seemed to think he locked me away all those years ago. He was a fool. As is his son." Nero let out a soft growl, twisting again, realizing that it was useless, but continuing to do so out of panic. "That arm of yours will be of good use, I suppose." Mundus' human element drawled, placing a hand against the glass, which fazed through to graze the demon limb on the boy's body. Nero jerked in response. "So much energy in that arm, I could create much with that power." The young male said nothing, and only leered at him from his glass prison.

"Now…when your little bedroom toy returns to collect you, he can join you in helping me open that door…"

"The demon world." Nero whispered, his eyes narrowing to glittering slivers against the pale strands of hair falling into his forehead, damp with the exertion and the humidity of the ruin.



"Ahh…" the humanoid Mundus said, stepping to the left, slowly, as Nero watched him warily. "So you know of it. Then opening it in front of you, using that arm, and your lover, will be that much sweeter."

Author's Note: Aaaha…Yes. Well, it'll be continued shortly. Thanks for all your reviews, guys!