The night air felt welcome on Vergil's skin as he stepped outside, carefully closing the fire doors behind him. As promised, the alarm had remained silent. Although it was summer, there was a slight chill in the air as he started to make his way towards the vehicle, and he felt instantly refreshed. The last remnants of daylight were now starting to disappear in the distance, causing the sky above him to take on a strange purple hue. The first few stars were just starting to make their appearance.
Listening for any sounds of movement, Vergil pondered his next moves. It was not yet clear whether the demon was inside the building or not, but Lady would hopefully have that covered for now. Keeping his eyes on the exit, Vergil unlocked the car and felt around behind him for the latch to release the trunk. After fumbling hopelessly for a few seconds, he gave in and turned briefly in order to open it.
"So, you must be the legendary Dante," a voice suddenly called out from behind him. Vergil turned towards where the voice had come from, instantly shooting a summoned sword in its direction as he did so.
"Why does everyone keep making that mistake tonight?" Vergil asked irritatedly, more swords forming in the air around him. He quickly retrieved Yamato before locking the car again and pressing his back up against it, his right hand hovering over his beloved katana's hilt. Vergil looked into the darkness ahead of him, flitting his eyes back and forth while straining his ears, waiting for even the slightest sound. With almost no warning, he sensed an object flying towards him from his right and managed to dodge out of the way at the last second, landing in a defensive stance. With the vehicle no longer offering protection from behind, he turned in slow circles, trying to anticipate the demon's next move.
"Not bad, halfbreed," the voice said, now somehow above Vergil. He rolled out of the way as what seemed to be a talon of some sort shot out of the sky towards him. Within seconds, Vergil had thrown another summoned sword and heard a slightly pained grunt in response.
"Come out and face me, coward," Vergil said coldly. "I don't have time to play foolish games."
"Aww, but I'm having fun," the deep voice replied, sounding slightly more strained than it had before.
"I don't do fun," Vergil responded. The sound of Yamato clicking back into its sheath echoed around the car park before a flurry of slashes suddenly flew in the direction of his aggressor.
"Not bad," the voice said, behind him again now. Vergil turned quickly, unsheathing Yamato as he did so and sending another wave of damage ahead of him.
"You bore me," Vergil said, resheathing his sword. "If you won't reveal yourself, then I'll be leaving." With that, he started to head back to the restaurant, hoping that the demon would follow so he could get a better view of it where there was more light.
"I guess the rumours were just that after all," the demon responded, seemingly following Vergil who now refused to turn around. "They told me you had a mouth on you and that you were fun to toy with, but you're way too serious."
Vergil stopped walking and took a deep breath. "You mistake me for my brother," he said calmly. "I have better things to do than banter with demons."
"Brother huh?" the demon asked. "I must say, I haven't heard much about you."
"That's because I kill everyone who crosses my path," Vergil said, a circle of swords suddenly impaling the air behind him. He heard a surprised gasp and turned to see the man from the photos slumped over on one knee, bleeding from a multitude of freshly opened wounds. "Pitiful," Vergil spat. "To think we went through all of this for a mere insect that could be crushed in seconds."
"As if such a thing would kill me," the man said, grinning. Vergil looked down at the demon in disgust, as blood flowed through its teeth and down its chin. "I am over one thousand years old!" it cried. Its grin grew wider, until it took up almost half of its face and continued to spread. Within seconds, it seemed as if the beast's entire head was now nothing but a large pair of swollen, bloodied lips and increasingly sharpening teeth pointing towards the sky. Vergil stepped back slightly as the jaws suddenly wrenched open, growing wider and wider until it looked like the demon's whole body was trying to turn itself inside out. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Vergil prepared to slice Yamato through the beast's body, when something suddenly shot out of the mouth into the darkness, leaving a discarded pile of bloodied flesh on the ground.
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Lady was starting to get concerned. Vergil had been gone for a good few minutes now, much longer than she knew it would take to get to the car and back. She looked over at the two women and hesitantly nibbled a cherry from one of the cakes that had now turned up, and been placed on their table. Just as she was considering sneaking outside herself, the woman's daughter suddenly stood up and ran to the bathroom. Lady froze, unsure whether to follow the girl or keep watch over the restaurant. Her mind was made up when the client locked eyes with her and frantically looked over to the female toilets, jerking her head in their direction.
Lady gave a short nod in response and stood up. She stroked her guns through her dress just to make sure, and headed towards the door reading "Femmes." She paused briefly before throwing the door open, hands ready to unholster her weapons if needed. For a moment, she thought the room to be empty, before she suddenly saw something coming towards her from the corner of her eye. Without any time to think, she managed to dodge what she soon realised was a heavy plaster bust as it smashed on the ground, mere inches from where she had been standing. Lady looked towards the door to see the girl standing there, tears streaking down her face as she held her hands over her mouth and nose, seemingly hyperventilating. An empty pedestal stood next to the row of sinks by the door, now missing its blank eyed model.
"I-I'm sorry!" the girl stammered, reaching out to Lady who, still half kneeling on the cold tiled floor, responded by pointing one of her guns at her attacker.
"What the hell was that for?!" Lady asked angrily, standing up while still keeping her weapon aimed at the quivering woman before her.
"H-He, he," the girl sniffed deeply, trying to catch her breath. "He told me to do it! He told me you were planning to kill us!"
"Well I mean, he's not entirely wrong…" Lady said, lowering her weapon slightly, but still keeping the gun cocked. She slowly approached the girl and stared into her watery eyes. "You're human right?" Lady asked her.
"W-What? Of course I am!" the girl said, pressing her back against the door as Lady got closer.
"Then you should leave before this gets ugly," Lady advised. "You're nothing but a victim here; take your mother and go. We'll handle the rest."
"What are you talking about?" the girl asked, now slightly calmer but still wide-eyed. "What about Alex?"
"'Alex', is using you," Lady stated, using air quotes as she said the demon's so-called name. "It's even more obvious now that I've seen you up close."
"Alex loves me!" the girl cried, suddenly attempting to strike Lady, only to find not one, but two guns pointed in her face.
"Trust me when I say that he's not worth it," Lady said, feeling slightly bad for the poor girl. "I don't have time to explain right now, but if you stay with him, you'll soon be dead. Just like your friends." The girls eyes widened further as realisation seemingly sunk in. Without saying another word, she nodded before letting Lady lead her out of the bathroom and back to her very worried mother.
"What happened?" the older woman asked, looking her dishevelled daughter up and down.
"You need to leave," Lady whispered, trying not to draw any more attention from the other guests, who were already looking over and murmuring amongst themselves. "Where are you parked?"
"I got a taxi here," the mother said, calling over a waiter and asking for the bill.
"I… came with Alex," the girl said quietly.
"Looks like you'll both be getting a taxi then," Lady said, catching the waiter's attention as he started to walk away and asking him to order one. "I'll stay with you until it arrives. I want you both to go straight home together, and stay indoors until either myself or one of the people I work with contacts you." The two women nodded in agreement, saying nothing further. Once the bill had been paid, the three of them made their way to the small lobby to wait for the women's ride out of there. Lady realised that Vergil was still nowhere to be seen.
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"Disgusting," Vergil said, lifting the slowly dissolving skin with the sheath of his sword. He flicked it away, still trying to work out where the thing that had emerged from within it had disappeared to. After a few minutes of sensing nothing further, he once again started to make his way back towards the restaurant before thinking better of it and taking out his phone. The last thing he wanted to do was draw whatever this thing was into a crowd of unsuspecting humans. Pressing his back against the wall, he fiddled around with the device a bit until he managed to find the word 'Lady' and pressed the call button.
"Vergil?"
"...Woman."
"I have a name you know… Where are you?"
"I'm round the back. It attacked me before running away somewhere. What's the situation?"
"I'm seeing off the client and her daughter," Lady replied, closing the door to the taxi and watching it carefully as it drove off until it was out of sight. "Wait there, I'll come to you."
"No need," Vergil said, suddenly appearing behind her. He grabbed her phone from her and ended the call.
"Damn it, you and your teleportation," Lady said, jumping in surprise. "Give me back my phone." Vergil looked at the phone and smiled at her. Lady felt a chill run down her spine.
"My my, this is an interesting wallpaper you have here," Vergil said, holding her phone just out of reach. "I didn't realise you were such a fan."
Lady blushed furiously as she tried to get the device back off him. "Dante sent it and I just thought it was a nice photo okay? It doesn't mean anything!" she cried.
The photo in question was a rather artsy looking shot of Vergil sitting by one of the large windows in the office, his back propped up against the wall and a cup of tea resting on the ground next to him. His legs were extended in front of him, one slightly bent. The sun was shining through the dusty glass, casting intricate shadows across his face, while illuminating his frosty eyes and silver locks as he looked down at the book he was holding. Dante had sent it to her with the caption 'LOL, look at this nerd, amirite?'. She had responded by vaguely commending his photography skills, at which point Dante had called her a nerd too.
"Is that so?" Vergil asked, admiring the photo. "I must admit, I do look exceptionally handsome in this shot, so I guess I'll give you a pass."
Lady regarded him closely, her eyebrows beginning to knit in concern. She stopped trying to retrieve her phone and stepped away from him. "Where's your sword?" she asked, slowly backing away further.
"I put it back in the car," Vergil replied, walking towards her. "I figured we may as well finish our desserts at least." He smiled warmly. "Perhaps I'll even feed it to you."
"Okay, this is beyond creepy," Lady said, drawing her guns. "What's going on?" Before she had even finished unholstering her weapons however, she found herself pinned to the wall. Her weapons clattered to the ground at her feet as the man before her made his move.
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Vergil tapped his fingers against Yamato impatiently as he looked around the car park. Surely it didn't take that long to order a taxi, he thought. She had told him to wait where he was, which must have meant she was done with the client right? He was sure he had even heard the door of the vehicle slam during the call. He waited for a few more seconds before letting out an irritated sigh and started to head towards the front of the building.
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A/N - Just a reminder that I work shift work, so apologies if updates are a bit scattered! Thanks for all the support so far, and I'm really glad people are enjoying it ^_^