- Chapter 8 -
The sound of a vacuum cleaner woke Dante up the following morning. Groggily he sat up from the chair he was slouched in and scanned the room for the rude intruder.
He found a little girl with curly blonde hair. Still tired, he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. "Patty, what the hell are you doing?" He yawned and stretched his arms above his head.
Patty turned around, her face looked slightly irritated. "I'm cleaning up this mess, of course! If you're not going to do it, then who is? Besides, you still owe me two icecreams and you don't have any money. You can't expect to get any costumers when you live in a dump like this! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother…"
Dante zoned out at that part and stood up to walk towards his desk. With another yawn he looked out the window. Sunshine shone through the freshly cleaned glass and… Sunshine…!?
"Shit!" Dante cursed and bolted up the stairs, towards his bedroom.
Patty just stood there watching him panic, a confused look on her face. "What's gotten into him?" she wondered.
Careful not to make a sound, Dante made his way through the dark hallway towards his bedroom door. Slowly he opened it and peeked around the corner. The curtains were closed and the room was completely dark. Dante squinted his eyes at the darkness, his light orbs looking at the bed. Maia lay on it, asleep. Her figure still in human form; white blonde hair spread out like a fan behind her.
Dante exhaled, relieved. For a minute there he thought he would find an oversized pony in his bed. That would have been a pain. Dante leaned against the doorpost and crossed his arms. "So she only changes 'in' the sunlight…That's convenient."
The door to the shop opened.
Patty turned around, surprised and hopeful for it to be a costumer. On the doorstep stood a figure dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt with a hood, which the person was wearing. Therefore his face was covered in a shadow, making it impossible to tell if it was a male or female.
"Good morning!" Patty said cheerfully. She placed the vacuum cleaner against the wall and walked towards the visitor. "Are you a costumer? Would you like a cup of tea?"
The hooded figure looked down at Patty, a somewhat content sigh escaping its lips. Slowly it removed the hood, revealing short locks of very light strawberry blonde hair framing the face and covering up the person's forehead and one eye.
"That would be nice, thank you…" the visitor said in a melodic feminine voice.
Patty just stared at her in awe. She could not tear away her eyes from the person's flawless face. She had completely forgotten that she had promised the visitor a cup of tea.
The female smiled warmly at Patty and titled her head. "Is Dante in?"
Patty, still staring, nodded slowly.
Just then heavy footsteps were heard on the staircase. The female turned her head, just to see Dante coming down.
She narrowed her deep bleu eyes slightly at the sight of the half demon, a jolt going through her body. Dante at first stared just like Patty, at the female, but not all for the same reason. There was just something familiar about her.
"Do you have the password?" Dante asked while he walked towards his desk. He plopped down in his chair, kicking up his feet and resting them on the desktop.
"I'm not here to hire you, Dante." she said with a smile.
Dante frowned, the sound of her voice tickled his ears. "Then why are you still here? Leave so I can take my nap."
"But you just woke up!" Patty remarked, earning a glare from Dante.
The female closed the door and walked towards his desk. "I was just wondering if you could help me find a lost person."
Dante sighed. "No password, no help. Sorry miss."
"I can give you the password if you want. But I do not wish to hire you for a job you already finished."
Dante removed his feet from the desk and sat up straight. "What are you talking about?" he asked, growing curious.
The female leaned over, placing her hands on his desk. Her eyes were locked on his. "You already found her."
"Found who?" he asked, not taken aback by the fierceness in her eyes, nor the beauty of her face.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "My sister."
The half devil leaned back in his chair and looked at her sceptically. "I see…And who are you?"
The female stood back up, taking a step back. "My name is Rhea. My sister's name is Maia. And I heard that she's staying here with you."
It came as a surprise or rather shock to Dante that Maia actually had a sister. But could this Rhea be trusted? And was she really who she said she was…Was Maia…?
"She is not who she says she is. She's lying to you 'devil hunter'."
Nergal's words echoed trough his mind.
"Oh yeah? Who gave you the information that she´s staying here?" Dante's face remained blank, showing no surprise on his face whatsoever. And to think he never wins a game of poker.
Rhea shrugged. "I don't know his name." It was a lie, Dante knew. 'Lying' must run in the family.
"So…is she here?" Rhea asked, looking at the devil hunter from aside.
Patty, who was listening to the story from the other side of the room, came to stand a bit closer. "Are you…a unicorn too?"
That was a question that caught Dante's attention. If this Rhea really was Maia's sister, then why was she 'human'.
Rhea turned around, looking at Patty with loving eyes. "No I am not. And neither is Maia."
After hearing that, Dante sat up straight and leaned over his desk, elbows on the top. "She's not?"
"No." Rhea confirmed and smiled.
Patty was confused. "But if she's not…then…what…?"
Rhea ignored her and placed her delicate hands on Dante's desk, leaning a bit forward. "So you do know her then?"
"I thought I did."
Rhea narrowed her deep blue eyes at him. "Do you know where she is?"
The devil hunter stared ahead in thought for a while, then locked his eyes with the female. "Maybe...what is it to you?"
The female tilted her head, carefully assessing her words. "My sister broke the rules. She's on probation, but she ran away. I am here to take her back."
"Probation hm? For what?" He could sense Rhea was at discomfort.
"A private matter. It doesn't concern you. Do you know where she is or don't you?"
Dante narrowed his eyes, never breaking eye contact. "No I don't." He could tell lies too, plus this was probably as much information he could get out of her. Still there was one more thing he was curious about… "But if I do see her, I will let you know." He stood up, and extended his hand.
Rhea's eyes looked at him fiercely for a while, before she decided that this was a battle she could not win. It would be better catching Maia when she was alone anyway. She stood up as well, looking down at his hand before grabbing it with her own for a handsake. Her skin felt at normal temperature. Patty frowned. She had never seen Dante shake hands with a costumer before, why now?
"Alright then." Rhea said, letting go and turning her back towards him. A quick glance was thrown towards the stairs. Rhea slowly reached for her hood and pulled it over her light strawberry blonde hair, concealing her features. She opened the door and stepped into the sunlight. "Thank you for your assistance." Rhea said as she shot a look over her shoulder before closing the door.
Patty stared at the closed door, still in awe. "Who was that?" she mumbled.
Dante shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I have no idea." But she's probably up to no good…he added in his mind. His eyes went up to the staircase, his thoughts with the sleeping Maia. He really wanted some answers from that woman. Wasn't Lady going to the library or something? Dante sighed out of frustration and glared at the phone. Usually Lady called him with the info, or she just randomly paid him visits. But now he was the one contemplating whether or not he should call her. "Damn those woman…" Dante mumbled. "but…what can you do?" He smirked and picked up the phone, dialing a number on speed dial. "Yeah hello, this is Dante. I'd like a pizza with all the good stuff on it."
Patty just shook her head and pressed the power button on the vacuum cleaner.
Later in the afternoon the phone did rang, and it happened to be Lady. "What took you so long babe, I've been waiting around all day for this call!" Dante exclaimed.
"I have been stuck in a dusty old library all night and day and you're the one complaining to me?! She's you're guest Dante! You know, I could just hang up the phone and not give you any information at all!"
Yikes…Dante scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah yeah, I know. I just had an interesting morning, that's all. Did you find anything?"
"As a matter of fact, I did…" she said.
Dante perked his ears. "Tell me all about it."
"Alright…It was pretty difficult to find, because for a fact…there is no documentation about this. Everything I have read were all lose stories, speculations about the existence of these..begins. There are even hieroglyphs found that suggested this. But it's all just stories really, like…a fairytale."
Dante yawned. "Get to the point."
Lady let out a snort. "Okay then…The stories suggests the existence of this group…or more like a family. It doesn't say if they're blood relatives or not. Anyway, this family is huge, covering the entire world. They live between us, not with us, watching over us as. Observing and protecting."
"And this family consists out of unicorns?"
Lady smirked. "No, not at all. All the stories tell that they appear to be human. Only then, drop dead gorgeous and immortal."
"Ah, there we go." Dante mumbled. The faces of Maia and Rhea appeared in his mind. "Drop dead gorgeous alright." he sighed. "And what about Maia?"
"There are no names registered, but I did find something about a unicorn. You see, being this gorgeous creature comes with a price. You have to sacrifice your humanity to watch over others. It evens goes as far that they have to give up their human life to safe that of a mortal at some point. The stories were kind of vague about it…Anyway, when a member of the 'family' defies the rule or refuses to live up to their promises or something like that…they are punished. Now one story tells that of a sister. She befriends a mortal, and they fall in love. They want to be together, but they can't because it goes against the rules of her family. So she runs away with him."
Dante frowns. Hadn't Rhea said something about Maia being a runaway?
"Then the mortal falls ill." Lady continues, "and he dies...leaving her alone. Now this was in medieval times, when people believed in witchcraft and what not. So the villagers believe her to have poisoned the man. They capture her and burned her at the stake. She doesn't die though. Her family comes to take her to trail for her crime. Can you believe that…as if falling in love with someone is a crime…" He could hear Lady snort, before she continued again. "In trail she is sentenced to a lonely live on earth for all eternity, alone and as a creature that is seen as a pure, untamed, unreachable being, desired and hunted by humans, and demons even. One of a kind, alone for ever."
"Right…a unicorn. So that means…Maia's true form is human."
"Yep."
"That lying little bastard." Dante muttered under his breath. Then Nergal shot through his head. "And what about the demon that's after her?"
"Yeah…" Lady started in a hesitant voice. "About the demon…I couldn't really find much about him. He probably isn't that much of a deal if he isn't registered in any of these books."
Dante gave a slight nod. "You don't say…"
"You know…That demon might be just a pawn in something bigger…"
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Dante replied, staring off into space. "I had a visitor today, who claimed to be Maia's sister. I think she plays a big role in this."
When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by darkness. The stillness in the unfamiliar bedroom she was in, was almost deafening. Where was she? What had happened?
Maia slowly sat up, immediately letting her head fall in her hands as she bended over. Headache; her brain was thrumming like mad. She squeezed her eyes shot and groaned. "Damn it." she hissed, rubbing her temples.
"Yeah, headaches can be a pain." she heard a familiar voice say.
She hadn't even noticed the door being opened. Not bothering to open her eyes, she sighed. "Thank you for the information."
Dante smirked. "Don't mention it." The demon stepped into the room, turning on the lights as he did so. The sudden flash of yellow made the woman groan again and she covered her already closed eyes with her hands.
"Thank you for that too." she muttered.
He laughed. "Sorry 'bout that babe." he said bitter. Maia noticed this. "You know, I'm starting to think you like sleeping in my bed. Maybe next time there's room for one more?"
Maia chuckled when she realized, after opening her eyes and scanning the environment, that she found herself indeed again in Dante's. Her eyes darted to Dante, whom was leaning with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He glared back at her, letting her know that he had figured out a thing or two about her.
She dropped her hands in her lap and gave him an apologetic look. His blue eyes still glaring at her with accusation. She tilted her head and smiled softly. "So now you know."
"Why did you lie?" he shot back.
"I didn't."
"Yes you did."
She sighed again. "You don't understand…I really did not lie. I am a unicorn. I have been one for four hundred years now."
"But you weren't always a unicorn. It was your punishment, wasn't it?"
Her brown orbs stared unblinking into his eyes. How did he know that? Dante pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the window, his back now turned towards her.
"Encase you're wondering how I know this: I have my sources."
Maia chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah, I suppose you do…" She shifted her weight and moved towards the edge of the bed, placing her feet on the ground she remained seated. "How much do you know?"
"Enough…I know you betrayed your family and that your were cursed to an eternal life on earth…as a unicorn.." Dante recited, as Lady had told him.
Maia smiled weakly and looked down. "That's right…quite a lonely existence you know."
"But…" Dante said, ignoring her words," you are not demonic…"
She shook her head. "No…there's more to the universe that meets the eye. A higher power, afterlife…."
"What, so now you're implying that there is a God?" Dante snorted, turning around and crossing his arms. "I don't do religions."
She looked at him, her head titled to a side. "Of course there is a 'God'. Humans only defy it as one, even giving It a name. There is no one…there simply Is. It exists, yet It doesn't. It is everything and It is nothing. It is life and death, and everything in between."
"Really?" Dante looked at her cynically. "And how did you come to exist?"
Maia looked up at the ceiling, her brow furrowed in thought. "That's…kind of complicated. You could say that I'm a guardian, a guide to souls. The best known term for me would probably be an…"
"Angel?" Dante finished for her, raising his eyebrows. "Are you kidding me?"
Maia shrugged and shook her head. "No, it's not a joke, sorry. But we're hardly the type of ´angels´ humans have in mind. Those angels don't exist."
"Then what 'type' do you mean exactly?"
"Ehm…" Maia started, staring ahead of her as she tried to find the right words to describe her own being. "We used to be human. But due to a certain experience or achievement, we became this, guides, caretakers for all souls. We are still somewhat mortal, but we had to sacrifice our humanity, aging…all memories of our past human life, so that we can fully commit to our task. No ties, no boundaries. We would even give up our own life for the sake of others."
"And that's where you went wrong."
Maia looked up at him in shock. He really did read into her story alright. "Yes…that's true." she whispered, her head lowering in shame. "I couldn't do it." She bit her lip, staring at the sheets on the bed.
"What happened?" Dante asked, curious.
Maia frowned, her hands forming fists. "That's just it...I don't remember everything." she said. She looked up, giving him a helpless look. "Up until two years ago, I thought I knew. According to my own memories, I had broken the rule of commitment, but..." she fell silent. Her eyebrows were furrowed together as she frantically sought her brain.
"But?" Dante urged.
"But two years ago, I started having these visions...of that day...and" she said, sighing. "I know now that the memories I had were false."
Dante frowned. "How is that possible?"
Maia smiled and shrugged. "Well, our elders are able to erase memories, so my guess is, someone must have erased or replaced my own memories with false ones. Someone is trying to cover up what had really happened that day..."
The devil hunter crossed his arms over his chest in thought. It was possible that she was lying, yet...she seemed sincere enough to be telling him the truth. "That makes sense...What about these visions you've been having?"
Maia squeezed her eyes shut as if to recall the visions, the dreams. "I keep seeing a mortal man. He lies in bed, coughing. He appears to be very ill. And then there is...fire, a woman at a stake. She's burning, but there is no fear in her eyes."
The story sounded very much like the one Lady had told over the phone. "The woman at the stake is you?"
Maia shook her head. "No, that's just it...it used to be me, but...it's not me. It's...someone else. And she died...in my vision, she died." Maia's voice cracked at the last part. She knew the woman at the stake.
"Where were you?" Dante asked.
"What?"
Dante leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. "You said you have visions of your real memories...? If you see a woman at a stake in your memories, then you must have been there yourself as well. So...where were you?"
Maia looked at him, her face suddenly looked saddened. She averted her eyes to the ground. "I was there, in the crowd."
"You were there?" Dante was frowning. "You watched her burn?"
Maia nodded. "Yes. I know it sounds weird...I don't understand everything yet. But yes...I just stood there and watched her burn." her eyes narrowed as the scene replayed over in her head. "I remember that...I was supposed to...I was ordered to safe her...but I...I couldn't... I don't understand why, but I just couldn't..." she fell silent and closed her eyes, biting on her bottom lip. A silence grew between them, before she whispered. "I don't deserve to live..."
Dante frowned. He had the feeling she wasn't telling him everything, there was something more. Or perhaps all the gaps in her memory weren't filled up yet.
Maia remained silent, her hands folded together in her lap. Dante could sense her depression. He pushed himself off the wall and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You got to lighten up. It was four hundred years ago. I say leave the past behind." Dante said, taking the situation lightly. His carefree attitude filled the room. "I'm not sure if I can do that."
"Come on." He replied, grabbing her by the upper arm and pulling her up from the bed, earning a surprise yelp from her when she collided against his chest. "Then you'll always be moping around. Where's the fun in that?"
Maia chuckled and shook her head. Dante caught a strand of her hair flying by and let it slid between his fingers. Damn her hair was soft.
"That's just it, there is no fun. I'm not supposed to have fun. I failed. The mortal...and Ka...the woman, they died, and I'm still alive. I shouldn't be."
The devil hunter chewed on the inside of his lower lip. Man, this girl was depressing. "And yet you still run from that Nergal demon. If you want to die so badly, why not let him have you…"
Maia looked up at him, her eyes now such a dark colour of brown the pupil seemed to disappear. She stayed silent for a while, as if she was contemplating whether or not she should tell him. "Nergal." she eventually said, "isn't after my blood. He's after my soul."
"Did you find her?" he asked, his eyes the only part of his face visible. His figure stood in the shadows of a cave somewhere deep in a forest near the city.
Rhea, whom was crouched down in front of him her head bowed, nodded. "Excellent. Does she know?"
Rhea hesitated…She did find her sister, but she hadn't exactly spoken to her.
"Well?" the man's impatience grew.
She bit her lip, trying to find the right thing to say without pissing him off. "I…I don't know, Sir."
The man narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"I didn't…talk to her…"
"What?!"
"She's with this devil hunter, Sir. I couldn't do anything."
The man stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the afternoon. His long grey hair was tied back in a low ponytail and his tall frame was masculine yet subtle. His face looked old and somewhat wise, but in a malicious way for his eyes always looked angry and thoughtful. Deep lines in his forehead revealed that the man had great worries.
"A devil hunter you say…So it is true then." he spoke as he paced around in front of her. "Yes, Nergal did not lie. A son of Sparda found our sister."
Rhea cringed at the sound of the word 'our'.
He stopped pacing, his index finger placed on his chin as if he were in thought. "Rhea, go inform the others. Tell them that we are going to recollect our sister."
Rhea looked up in confusion. "But Alexander…they are…"
"Don't!" his voice boomed, his frame towering over her as he pointed a demeaning finger at her form. "Don't call me that out loud, Rhea." he spat out her name as if she were some kind of insect.
Clouds gathered, making the sun disappear. Alexander looked up at the sky, slightly frightened and took a few steps back so that his figure was hidden in the shadow once again.
"Tell the others." he said, his voice now barely audible.
Rhea bowed her head, suppressing the urge to sigh. "As you wish."
R and R
