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Teenage Girls with Cameras

Chapter 9: Itchy Trigger Finger

The door swung open; Dante saw a woman standing at a kitchen sink past a landscape of living room furniture. Nina had to resist the urge to drag him out of the doorway before her mother noticed him; fear would only make him mad at her, annoyed. This whole meeting was inconcievable, and yet here it was, about to happen. He had to walk through the living room to the linoleum safety of the kitchen. For a second, he looked bewildered by the absolutely normal tint to everything. A T.V., a sofa, a kitchen table, random stuff piled on the table that would never see the darkness of a drawer. It was as if he expected to see demonic rituals being performed in every corner of the room. Instead, everything smelled of dust, warm wood, and floral carpet freshener. It was the warm, cluttered home of a family who had used the space for many years and had not really gotten together for a yard or garage sale. She knew for a fact that the last yard sale had taken place when she was born to make room for all the new baby stuff, toys, collected crap that kids always get.

His foot hovered on the threshold before he walked in after her, his boots making soft thumps on the carpetted floor. As they wiped the snow off their feet on the welcome mat, Nina was starting to lose some of her fear.

The woman in the kitchen heard the door shut; she hadn't heard them come in when the water was running. She smiled, her dark hair swinging in a day-old braid that was starting to fray. She looked long at Dante, then coughed, "Well. I think he needs an introduction. Is this the new student you've gone on about?"

Nina nodded, straining to rein in her annoyance. She didn't have to do all this, dammit. She could have stayed at school. This wasn't worth the risk of her mother's long-winded lectures. "Yeah," she said reluctantly. "This is Adam. Adam, this is my mother."

A refreshingly beaming smile glowed from Dante's face as he closed the distance between himself and the woman. He reached out to grasp her hand warmly. "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"You can call me Mrs. Harper, Adam." She gave a little smile, wary and protective. Not just any stranger had entered her home unannounced, but it was a male. And he had come with her daughter. Nina knew her mother's thoughts almost as well as she knew her own sometimes.

Hope she doesn't think we're going to tell her I'm pregnant or something, Nina thought, trying to mask her shudder.

As Dante let go of her hand, he looked uneasy. Nina tried to figure out what was rubbing Dante the wrong way; panic began to fight for space within her. She had no way of knowing what sort of things Dante was looking for to know for sure what kind of demons were plaguing the house as well as Nina. Her hope to avoid disaster dwindled with the light outside the window.

Sensing Nina's mood intuitively, Mrs. Harper avoided another question burning a hole through her tongue and offered Dante a diet soda. He declined politely. She sat in an armchair, leaving the sofa to the other two. The younger pair left enough space to possibly squeeze her dad's maroon Buick through between them.

"So where are you from, Adam?"

"Out of town. I moved in with my mom after my dad got a different job somewhere in Colorado."

"Do you drive?"

"Yeah but my car's parked over back at the school." He leaned back, struggling to eliminate the bored expression on his face. I'm doing this for Nina, he thought. "I just wanted to visit and tell you- I mean, ask you - if I can go out with your daughter."

Nina jerked so hard, she kicked the coffee table. Her teeth grimaced in a look so ferocious, Dante was pretty sure she'd love to bite his nuts off. Not only that, but she was most likely wondering where the hell he got the gall to mess with her life. Well, it wasn't only her life he was messing with at that point. She clenched her teeth to keep the profanities from spilling forth like a molten river of lava.

The smile on her mother's face only fanned the fury of flames.

Please say no, Nina thought furiously. Put him in his damn place. I can't believe the brazen...! Oh, he's seriously going to get an earful and maybe even more if this shit keeps up.

"I thought you would never ask." Her mother looked simply ecstatic. Her hopes crashed, and the demon inside her chortled as if he too garnered some amusement from her plight. She sighed loudly, exasperatedly trying to sink in between the cushions of the sofa. What a drag... now she was going to hear it.

"Mom! Don't listen to him. He's just being a jerk."

"No, I'm not!" Dante looked absolutely mortified. "Haven't I told you how much you mean to me?"

"I'm going to kill you. That's how much you mean to me." Nina slashed him with her deathglaring eyes.

"Now, now, children!" interrupted Mrs. Harper. "There will be no murder here. I can't afford to steam-clean the blood out of the rugs. If you're going to kill each other, please do it outside in the backyard." She looked at them, sure that she had their attention. Then she said softly, eyes asparkle, "I don't want to upset the neighbors across the street."

Dante slapped his leg and laughed hard. He wondered if he was wrong about the weird uneasiness. "Hey, I like this lady's sense of humor! Can I go out with Mrs. Harper instead?"

Nina exclaimed in outrage and shock, mortified by her mother's nonchalant attitude and Dante's brass. But the pair of them against her made her helplessly hysteric. She was laughing for some reason too, as if this was funny. No, she thought, now that he's here, everything's different. But why is it good different instead of bad?

"Why do you want to go out with Nina so much? You're a bit older, right? And I think it's obvious she doesn't want to go out with you." Mrs. Harper stood up, her eyes gleaming with silent interest; she spoke with a tone that suggested sincere interest in knowing the answers. "And also, anyone up for some cocoa? Kind of cold out... I'm gonna make some. Keep talking, I can hear you." She vanished into the kitchen.

"Well, I want to know more about her. I mean in the ... person kind of way. I've never been so fascinated by a person before. I guess it sounds nosey if I want to know where she grew up, what she was like as a kid. I dunno." Dante looked down at the coffee table. "And cocoa sounds good."

"Me too," Nina added softly.

Mrs. Harper returned with the cocoa. "You'll have to stir yours."

While they stirred, Dante murmured, "So I guess that's a no?" He did his best to sound disappointed.

The woman shrugged. "No. I mean, if you want to know more about her, why don't you just ask her? I don't know where you go the idea of dating her."

"She's a bit selective about what I get to know and what I don't get to hear."

"Oh." This answer did not explain very much at all. Mom seemed a bit distrustful all the same. She continued to look at the pair; the mournful way Nina stirred cocoa made her doubt Dante even more. In spite of that, she said, "Well, she was always a bit different. For example, when she was little, she used to get sick a lot."

Dante nodded, leaning forward to sip his cocoa and become attentive.

"If so much as a sniffle went around in school, she got it. She was sick almost all of the time. But the worst was a fever that ran nearly up to 106. We had to hospitalize her and everything. She lost a lot of memories from her early childhood as a result of her brain overheating." Her voice got a strange level of reverent quiet, because she still considered a miracle had occured after that long weekend when they came home.

"I don't remember that," said Nina.

"I know you don't. A lot of what you experienced that year disappeared. Second grade seemed to disappear completely. I feel bad because you couldn't retake it and you struggled a lot in third grade."

"So I was always sick?" She scratched her palm, looking down at her hand just to see it, to make sure it was still human. This was weird; she would have remembered if she had gotten THAT sick. But maybe the fever really did eliminate all recollection. She was grateful for that much. Remembering the pain and suffering of a fever of that magnitude made everything else that had happened before then pale in comparison. Being a little kid would not have helped either.

"Yes. And the funny thing was you had the weirdest rash..."

The devil hunter narrowed his eyes. "On her left hand?"

"Yes!" Mrs. Harper answered. "How'd you know?"

Nina looked pale and scared, blinking repeatedly as confusion gave way to more fear.

Her mother went on, "It went all the way up to her shoulder, and then overnight it went away. She was outside playing the very next day, couldn't remember anything about the hospital visit. It was so terrifying, watching her skin turn red and black and blue, like some kind of massive bruise. As far as I knew, she hadn't fallen or hurt herself, and I was with her the whole time."

The living room fell into an impregnable silence. Heavy. The weight of more knowledge crushed Nina's voice into oblivion. She gulped her cocoa without looking at Dante, wondering what he was thinking to have asked those questions about her. Did he suspect something before he had come all the way here? What if he decided to kill her anyway? Feeling her fingers freeze with shock, trembling more with her sudden burgeoning fear, the girl gave a start when Dante suddenly said, "Well, I gotta say I've never heard of that one before. But that's pretty cool that you lived and all that." She missed his wink when he continued, "I got to meet a cool chick like you for instance."

His words were starting to sound pretty empty to her. To anyone else, they were sweet honey - but it was honey-flavored poison to her. She stuck her spoon in her mouth to hide the grimace and nodded, glimpsing red as he stood up and drained his cocoa - which must have scalded his throat. It was still hot.

He wouldn't kill her now that he's met her mom, would he? Dante was not that heartless. And that story about the fever did not mean anything. She just a little kid cursed with a weak immune system, that's all. It was coincidence that her left arm got a weird rash. Coincidence. Yeah, coincidence. She bitterly regretted having Dante meet her mother. Hated him for inadvertently stumbling on evidence that may just make her life more of a living Hell than it already was. She heard her mother ask if "Adam" was leaving already.

"Yeah, I wish I could stay longer. But I don't wanna impose."

"It's no problem. Next time, let me know ahead of time and you can stay for dinner!" Her mother should not have sounded happy. If only she knew...

"I'll see him to the door," Nina said suddenly, abandoning her mug to the coffee table and leading Dante to the front door, practically bruising his fingers as she dragged him. She walked outside, calling, "I'll just be a minute!" before she closed the door, standing outside in the snow with the devil hunter.

"Your mom's cool?" Dante offered, grinning, snow disappearing in his pale hair.

Nina swore colorfully - and under her breath - before she said, "Look. You do not come into my house and make me look stupid. You do not interrogate my mother about my childhood, which is none of your goddamn business!" Her fingers itched. She felt the demon inside her creeping around just beneath her skin, feeding from her anger. The urge to punch, slam, maim, was starting to feel pretty good. Who was more willing to do the maiming? She wasn't sure, but it wouldn't matter pretty soon.

"You made the agreement, remember?" His amusement fizzled in an instant. The air felt much colder between them, charged with that spiteful distrust.

"I didn't agree to let you hit on me in front of my mother, or ask for my hand in courtship!" She stomped on a clump of snow with a fierce snarl. "I didn't agree to let you ruin my life!"

"What's the big deal? All I asked were a couple of questions. Why all the fire and brimstone, sweetheart?" He caught her fist as it swung toward his face. He squeezed her wrist until she winced. His serious gaze scoured her. He said to both of them, "Calm down before you go back in there, you hear me? I don't want you to lose what you have here." He squeezed harder when she started to struggle. He grabbed her by the other arm and pulled her closer, squeezing his other arm around her waist until she squeaked, only her toes scraping the snowy doorstep.

Nina's red-hazed vision faded slowly from within his nearly-crushing hold. Instead, she felt her face turn redder and redder, her body aching. "Why are you such a jerk?"

"Because it turns heads? I don't know." He put her back down, stepping away. "Are you cool now?"

She shoved her hands into her pockets, trembling. "Freezing, actually."

"Sheesh. Remind me never to threaten you with romance again, will ya?" He walked off down the walk into the falling snow.

Nina barely murmured, "See you tomorrow."

She watched him until he vanished behind the neighbor's fence before retreating indoors.


Alia soaked in the bathtub, the shower head blasting scalding water on her shoulders while she bit a cloth between her teeth. Each wave of pain sent dazzling brightness lancing her eyes. In spite of the maelstrom of soul-ripping agony sending ripples through her skin, she was bizarrely silent. Her hair stuck to her skin everywhere. She had no way to cry out... no idea when this agony would be suspended, when she'd find relief. The only temporary relief was in the heat of the water, which even now no longer dulled the pulling, ripping, tearing inside of her flesh.

She had wondered if this was a way her power got back to her, returning to her threefold like in the books she read. Witchcraft. Something that could never fully explain the demons she encountered. Or describe why she was experiencing this pain. She never called on her power until she was absolutely sure it was needed. But she knew it would not stop there anymore. She could not even call on it today, when she was certain Adam was going to interfere. Why did he help her to the nurse's office? He could have killed her or sealed her away somewhere. Nothing she knew about demons added up with him. She closed her eyes as another wave of agony arrested her thoughts, spiking to a fever pitch that sent her body doubling over until she was nearly breathing in bath water. When it was over, she whimpered and spat out the cloth.

She stared through tear-streaked eyes at the pink-tinged water she sat in. Then she gingerly reached for the string leading to the rubber bath plug and pulled it, knowing that the pain would not abate any more if she sat longer. The water drained, while the shower poured streaming water along her aching body.

Alia had to act, had to know. The other demon at school preying on girls wouldn't wait for her to feel better. She gulped back her pain as she regained her feet. The shrill cry of pain sounded unlike her own voice, but regardless it still came out of her mouth. She swabbed her back gingerly with a cloth and rinsed the blood off with more water before she clambered out. She ignored the bony female in the mirror, concentrating instead on the bloody inch-long protrusions sticking from her back. She had to hide them somehow to go to school tomorrow. She dug about with one hand bracing her on the sink for bandages and tape in the medicine cabinet with the other. She pointlessly gulped three aspirin, bandaged herself as best as she could manage before loosely draped herself in a towel and climbed into bed a quivering mass of spasm-inducing discomfort.

--

The same routine occured the following day at school, only this time Nina did not complain when he winked at the girls on his way to the lunch table. Nor was Alia present. Having glimpsed her once in the hall, Nina knew she was at school. But maybe Alia was just observing some weird holiday, or just not feeling well. It angered her even more that she still would not let Nina know what was bothering her, or why she wouldn't just miss a couple days of school to take care of herself. She did not even look at Dante as she ate her two grilled cheese sandwiches and slurped creamy, hot tomato soup.

"Have you seen Alia today?"

"No. Since yesterday, not a glimpse."

"Oh. You know, I'm going to her house after school today to check on her. You should come, too."

"Maybe."

"What do you mean, maybe? I thought you liked her."

"I like her, okay. Not as much as you, the daughter of sunshine and rainbows. I meant I might not make it since I'm waiting for you-know-who again."

"Oh yeah." She glowered at him, a fresh source of anguish piercing at her patience. "Hey, you wanna let me come help you today or not?"

"Only if you promise to stand watch."

Nina's eyes darkened suspiciously. "From my classroom?"

Dante gasped theatrically. "How did you guess?"

"You're--"

"--a jerk. I know."

"I was thinking something a bit pithier that would do a bit more justice. But okay. We'll stay simple." Nina packed away her lunch items and stood up. "You can't stop me from at least showing up unannounced. This isn't something you're deciding anymore. I'm tired of asking. I'm helping." The demon in my school, which is my turf, has got to go. He can piss and moan about it all he wants. I'm not being pushed aside and protected - or just pushed aside - anymore.

Suddenly a blanket of silence covered only them. It muffled all other noises echoing in the room, except for the tapping footsteps of someone approaching their table. It was Sarah, flanked by two other girls of lesser social rank. Her greasy smile beamed at Dante as if she had never smiled before. She was dressed fairly, warm against the winter but there the functionality ended completely.

"Adam, hi." Sarah stood near his side, her supportive girls hanging back with tiny oily smiles of their own, giving slashing, disapproving looks at Nina who was clenching her left hand and trying to find her pocket with it.

"Hi, you." Dante arched a single dark-silver brow and assessed the female who now invaded his personal space with every apparent intention of garnering some sort of attention from him. Sarah giggled prettily.

Nina said, "Excuse me, but what do you want?" She couldn't cross the line of rude too fast. She had to remind herself that Sarah had lost a best friend - but she was hardly acting like a heartbroken, tear-wrinkled grieving best-friend-widow now.

"Adam, who's your little friend?" Sarah placed her hand very stealthfully on Dante's shoulder, squeezing ever so gently. Leather creaked. "I don't think I deserve her attitude. Relax, girl."

Girl. Like she was some - girly slut she could command. Nina felt her temper fine-point into needle-accuracy. Just one sharp crack over her grinning face and Nina would feel better. "You didn't say hi to me, that's all."

"That's because I'm talking to Adam, hon. Adam. Not you. And Adam's not interested in sitting with you anymore anyway. Go find your little lesbian friend before she dies of AIDs."

Her flunkies burst out laughing, and Adam looked confused for a second. Then a flicker in his eyes distracted Nina from stomping around the table and giving a little more blush to Sarah's cheeks - and maybe taking out a few teeth. He stood up and slid his arm around Sarah's delicate, sweater-knitted waist and smirked at the female, who melted against his side as if she was born to stick there like chewed-up bubble gum.

"Relax," he told everyone within earshot. Especially Nina. His eyes washed her with something like cool, cruel boredom tainted with mischief. "I'll be back. I promise."

Nina told herself to leash her anger as they all walked away, ignoring the snide comments left by the two female lackeys before they too went on their merry way. There was something in the way he promised his return that eased her sense of betrayal; the way his eyes had razed her with that look. That calm, self-assured, cocky business look. What was he thinking? Was he going to lure Sarah somewhere alone to make out with her, or to find out whether she was really the demon they were looking for? She was not sure which - it was hard to tell the difference between Dante the Lover, and Dante the Cocky Self-Assured Devil Hunter. She swallowed her hurt, anger, and bile; there was only one way to find out which one of those two she had just witnessed.

She lunged into the hallway, speaking in her mind, Demon, you better start telling me if you sensed any demonic energies seeping off that bitch. Even if you didn't, I'm still going to kill her.

The girl that Dante took away? I cannot say by what human standards you find her so distasteful, but you are right in assuming she is dripping with all the usual demonic malice. She's a hungry little queen spider, and she has selected her first male victim.

Nina navigated people as the bell rang, trying to keep Dante in sight, and halted, watching the pair of lovebirds hover by a row of lockers, Dante leaning intimiately close to Sarah. His fingertips caressed her cheek; her starry-eyed look reminded her of something hungry for a triple bacon cheeseburger, not a kiss from a hunky beefcake. Then he leaned close and brushed his lips over hers and Nina's heart fell into her stomach, melted in stomach acid.

"Son of a bitch." Had her mouth moved? She launched herself away from the scene as fast as she could, shoving a small and insignificant ninth grader - he was in her way - and fumbled with her locker combination for thirty seconds before she realized the numbers were getting blurred all together. Blinking, she thought hard. Just a demon. That's all she was.

Her chest hurt along with the burning sizzling in her arm that sprang up and slammed into her locker door. "Fuck you!" The fist left a dent, and then another before she stormed off to class.


Fury reddened the edges of Nina's vision as she followed the unmistakable musk of demon scent down to the abandoned bathroom that Dante had staked out a couple days ago. Her heart was pounding and the risk of discovery was exhilirating. She had made sure to stop and visit the bathroom to see if she was beginning to change anywhere other than her arm. It wouldn't do to start looking the part of the demon if Dante suddenly came out with guns blazing. Satisfied that she still looked refreshingly human - albeit her face flushed with fifteen flavors of pissed off - she had gone on down the hall to "help" Dante with his little problem.

The danger of fighting no longer frightened her. Waves of confidence dulled her fear, certain that her new demon was a friend in this case. It would only take a few minutes. She waited by the bathroom door, hiding in a windowed crevasse listening and reaching out for any sign of Dante or that greasy, sickening feeling of Sarah.

She had no idea that the bathroom might have spells or hexes on it to hide any trace of demonic presence once they were already inside. It had occured to her, but she wanted to wait first before she just barged on in. It did not matter if she was interrupting an intimate session or a deeply hot, intense battle. She pressed her left knuckles against her lower lip before she slid toward the bathroom door. Her heart still pounded, but it was a metronome to measure her breaths, to gather her fury again. It would eradicate any doubts she had about anything she did in the next few minutes. It also made her forget why seeing Dante kissing someone else made her so angry-

The teenager nudged open the swinging bathroom door, and peered around the dividing wall, clamping her fingers on the tiles.

"Are you gonna tell me what you've been up to in here?" The sultry male voice sent a shiver through her. How many times had she heard that tone of voice drill into her heart the same terror she was beginning to remember now?

Except this time, she was not the recipient of the message behind the voice.

"I asked you a question."

A pained moan answered him.

Be careful, the demon inside her coaxed. I feel something in him that has nothing to do with being your friend.

Dante Sparda lifted the girl and slammed her against a bathroom stall divider and Nina flinched, hearing something important crack. "Is this where you take your meals these days? Hardly a five-star restaurant, is it?" He slammed again and again. Then she felt the wall shudder and she jerked back just in time to avoid being struck by bits of plaster and tiles. Her first instinct was to just get out of the way, but she hopped around to avoid getting crushed by pieces of the wall.

That allowed her to see the rest of the bathroom. The sink fixtures bent, the cheap porcelaine fallen apart and crushed underfoot. She thought she saw the towel dispenser somewhere beneath a towel turned upside down. Then she saw Dante standing with his guns in each hand, his boot crushing someone - something - Sarah's spine? But he had not really noticed anything else yet. He might have seen her, but he was all business and would deal with Nina. Somehow.

But not yet.

"Show me where you hide your other victims."

"Are you sure?" In spite of the agony it was obviously in, the demon sounded amused. Then it made a noise, spoke some kind of phrase and it made Nina's stomach turn upside down with the rest of the room. The walls and the wreckage were swept away in a sandy maelstrom, a dull roar filling her ears. She grasped out for something to hold onto and fell over, her limbs akimbo as purgatory roared around them.

It's a gateway, her demon soothed. I don't know where it's leading us. But you're safe. I won't let you be lost.

But it was still churning her stomach to be taken across dimensions like this, without warning. And alone in the dark with just the demon inside of her to comfort her made everything weigh on her sane mind, threatening to snap it.