Chapter 9

The many colours of the setting sun lit up the sky as Patty and the dragon girl sat at the swings in the middle of the park. After an enjoyable afternoon of sight seeing the young blonde thought it would be fun to head to the playground before going back to Dante's place. Patty was doing all of the talking, informing the dragon girl of all the adventures she had been on after she met Dante. The dragon was enjoying the company of the younger girl along with the freedom she now had, she only wondered how long it would all last.

"So, Dante told us you don't remember your name," Patty said and brought the dragon girl's attention back to her.

"That's true. I don't actually know if I ever had a name."

Patty thought for a moment before jumping off the swing and standing in front of the other girl with a determand look on her face. "Then I promise to find you a name!"

"That's ok, you really don't have to."

"Its no trouble, I'd love to help! I'll even ask my mom if she... Oh no, mom and dinner, I'm going to be late! I have to go!"

Patty started to run toward the exit to the park until she remembered the dragon girl was still on the swing. Before Patty could call out, the young woman yelled out to her.

"Don't worry about me. I remember the way back. Enjoy your dinner with your mom."

"Ok, thanks. I'll stop by tomorrow to see how your doing. And don't worry, I'll find you a name, " Patty called back as she turned back to head out of the park.

Now all alone, the young woman continued to slowly swing and watch as the sun slowly set and the few stars came out to be seen in the city sky. Time seemed to roll slowly by as the dragon continued her swinging and star gazing. She was enjoying the quiet, save for the occasional squeak of the rusty swing chain.

A few hundred feet away, behind the swings, the smallest movement in the bushes could be seen. All of a sudden a blob of orange acid came shooting out of the bushes and hit the metal swing with a sickining hiss. Making its way slowly out of the bushes to check its work was a demon. Looking like a deformed giant albino alligator with black spikes all over its body, it made its way to the still desolving swing set. Its red-orange eyes looked over its work but it could find no trace of the girl it had seen moments ago.

"Looking for me?"

The gator demon turned its head to the sound of the voice and found its prey standing on top of the jungle gym a few feet away.

"YOU ARE THE DRAGON HUMAN THE SORCOROR SEEKS?" the gator asked in a deep raspy voice as it narrowed its eyes at the girl.

"And what if I am?"

"THEN MY ORDERS ARE TO TAKE YOU BACK TO YOUR MASTER."

"Was that before or after you melted me with your acid attack? Sorry about you luck, umm... Gator, but I an't going anywhere."

"IF YOU WILL NOT COME WILLINGLY, THEN MY ORDERS ARE TO MAKE YOU RETURN AT ANY COST."

"One problem with that big guy, you have to catch me first," she said with laugh.

The Gator started the fight by spitting more acid to the top of the jungle gym in the direction of the girl. Jumping off the playground equipment, the girl hears the hiss as the orange goop makes contact with the metal she was just standing on. Running around the other side of the jungle gym to avoid more acid, the girl vanishes into the darkness.

Following his prey, the Gator finds himself in a clearing in the middle of the park where there are fewer lights to eluminate the area. Stopping to try and get a fix on the young shape shifter, the Gator looks around him and into the darkness. As he turns to his right, he only catches a climps of movement before he is hit in the side and knocked down. Looking back up, the Gator sees the girl in her dragon form walking out of the darkness. As the Gator gets back up, he never takes his eyes off the new form of his prey.

Her back scales shine in the moon light and her amethist eyes seem to glow bright as she continues to stare at the demon before her. Noticing her limp wing the Gator thinks he has the advantage as he lunges at the dragon but, she quickly spins to hit him with her pointed tail. The demon Gator stumbles back a bit from the blow to his head that now has a nice size gash in it. Gazing back up at the dragon, the demon lets out a frustrated growl before standing to his full height and prepairing for another acid attack.

The dragon used her uninjured wing as a shield as the orange liquid rains down on her. The Gator thinks he is the victor for only a moment until he relizes that the acidic attack wasn't working. The acid was falling off the dragon's wing like rain on a rain coat. Standing back up, the shape shifter uses the Gator's moment of confusion to send a blast of fire his way. The Gator falls back and shrieks in pain from his second and third degree burns that cover its pale skinned body. As a finale move that would end the battle, the dragon leaps forward and pins the demon down while she sinks her razor sharp teeth into the Gator's throat.

Warm blood covers the dagon's mouth and runs down the Gator's throat as it comes gushing out of the inflicted wound. Slowly suffocating to death, the Gator tries to let out a cry that only comes out as a small gurgle. With her prey now dead, the hunter lets go of the dead weight still glutched in her jaw and watches it fall a few inches to the ground with a dull thud.

The sound of clapping cut through the now silent battle ground. The dragon turned her head to see a familar white haired, red coat wearing man standing off to the side of the freshly made battle field. A small smirk played on Dante's lips as he continued looking at the scene before him.

"Not bad, Babe. Well, at least I now know that you can actually fight. I was wondering how long you would last in a fight when you carry no real weapons. A little to messy for my taste, but hey, you got the job done."

Slowly the shape shifter made her way over to the hybrid. A small confused look crossed her face as she transformed back into her human form.

"What are you doing here? Were you watching the whole time?"

"You never came back to the shop. Started thinking that maybe you really had skipped town."

"No, I was out with Patty, remember? After she left for dinner with her mom, I stayed here and I guess I just lost track of the time. Thats easy to do when you don't own a watch," the girl said as she wiped the blood off her mouth with her arm and came to a stop a few feet in fron of the devil hunter.

Dante watched as the woman made her way over to him. He could see the fatigue in her eyes even through the darkness of the night. She had taken care of the lower level demon with no real trouble, but still being weak from the night before, he knew that she had used up a lot of the energy she had been trying to get back. Looking down at her side, he also saw that her wound had started to bleed again, no doubt from all the movement in the fight. Despite the cool deminer the girl held, he could see that the fight had taken its toll on her.

Looking back up into her face, he noticed a little blood still left on the side of her lips. Slowly moving to stand in front of her, Dante brought his hand up to the girls face. Slightly smirking at her wide eyed raction to his movements, the hunter ran his thumb across the side of her mouth to get rid of the last of the blood.

"You missed a spot. The way you finished off the demon was kinda kinky in a way. Now I'm looking forward to seeing what else you can do."

Snapping out of her thoughts, the dragon girl rolled her eyes at Dante's statement. Stepping around the half devil and making her way to the entrance to the park, the dragon girl called out.

"Your impossible. Come on, lets go. Its been a long night, I could use a nap and I get the feeling I'm in need of a new bandage. And to top it all off, Patty will kill me when she finds out I got blood on the new shirt she gave me."

Smilling at her retreating form, the hunter stepped quickly to catch up to the slightly wounded shape shifter .

"Good luck on dealing with Patty, you're going to need it. And if I have to help you any more with your wound, I may as well just go get a doctor's liscence."

"I just said I needed it changed, I didn't say anything about you helping me. Besides, you probably only want to see me without my shirt again."

"Can't blame a guy for looking, can ya? And what kinda experience do you have with medical supplies? I bet you couldn't even play the game Operation."

"What the heck is 'Operation?'"

As the hunters continude their playful panter and walked away, neither noticed a figure safely hidden in the shaddows on the side of the battle field, watching them as they made their way toward the exit of the park.