I planned to leave Vergil out for a while but then decided to just include him in this chapter and then have a few chapters without him. Still, I think he fits in here and Dante will also find out exactly why Vergil described Carla as ethereal in an earlier chapter!

Carla arrived at the house a couple of minutes before Dante. When he knocked on the door, he was panting slightly and Carla grinned.

"What, did you run here or something?" she teased.

"Actually, yes. I did run here." Dante responded.

He brushed past her and Carla couldn't help but find it strange that she was the one joking around while Dante was the one being serious. She realized then that he really was taking her safety seriously and the light feeling inside her decreased a bit.

"What's wrong?" she asked Dante.

Dante looked up at her from the chair he'd casually sat down on in the kitchen.

"Huh? Nothing's wrong. Why would you think something's wrong?"

Carla leaned up against the doorframe and gave him a smirk.

"Actually, a number of things. The most predominant one is that I just teased you and smirked in the space of a minute and you didn't even notice. Plus, there's the way you're sitting in what looks to be a casual manner yet on further inspection, I can see you're tensed up, as if you're waiting for something to happen."

Dante could only stare at her in amazement as she smirked again and pushed herself away from the doorframe. She moved towards the stairs and called over her shoulder.

"Wait there, I'm just going to pack a few things. Oh, help yourself to anything in the kitchen as dad and I won't be using it for a while."

As Carla disappeared up to her room, Dante let out a chuckle, deciding that he definitely preferred the more carefree side of her than the serious side of her he'd been introduced to initially. He turned to the cupboards and quickly sorted through them, throwing various items into a carrier he found before sitting back in his chair, his whole being on alert. Something was up, he could just feel it.

Carla moved into her room and took a long look around. In a way, she was sad to leave it as she'd only just finished decorating it and putting in all the furniture and items she wanted, but in another way she was excited to be leaving. She had always been one for fresh starts and even though it would be a strange way to do it, moving with Dante would be the fresh start for her learning to be a better person as far as loosening up was concerned.

She pulled a large rucksack out from under her bed and opened it before standing back, deciding what to take. She wasn't sure how long she'd be with Dante but from what she'd seen of Vergil, he wouldn't give up any time soon so the likelihood was that she would no doubt be with Dante for a while. In the end, she simply threw all the clothes she owned into the bag, grateful for once that she didn't own a lot. Then, she decided to take a couple of home comforts with her to make the room feel more like hers. First to go in the bag was her baby blanket. Her mother had been adamant that Carla was going to be a boy and so had bought everything in blue. When a girl popped out, her mom had simply kept the blue things and bought more items in lilac and yellow to go with it. The baby blanket was one of the blue items her mom had bought and had even had the name Carl stitched to it, as that was the name she'd chosen. Fortunately, the lady at the shop was happy to add the extra A for no charge so the blanket became Carla's. Every time she looked at it, Carla couldn't help but smile, remembering how scatter-brained her mom could be with things like that.

Carla also decided to pack a couple of photos she had; one of her as a baby being held by both her parents, one of just her and her mom and the last one of her and her dad. Finally, she threw in a couple of books to read along with her guardian angel ornament; a present from her dad given to her the day she was born. Deciding she was ready, Carla picked up her rucksack and gave the room one last glance before turning the light off and shutting the door.

She turned to head back down the stairs, only to gasp and drop her bag as she bumped into a very solid chest. A pair of hands grasped her arms and she regained her balance.

"Dante! You scared me!"

"Sorry"

Carla looked up at him, noticing that he seemed detached. She saw that he was staring in the direction of her dad's room and gave him a confused look.

"Dante, what's...?"

"Ssh"

She fell silent and watched with a worried expression as he crept silently towards the room. He pushed the door open and as soon as he did, a demon sprung forward and crashed into him, sending him over the railing and down onto the floor below.

"Dante!" Carla screamed.

She ran towards the stairs but the demon grasped her, stopping her from moving. Without even pausing to think, she lurched forward and pulled the demon over her shoulder, sending it crashing down the stairs. It stopped at the bottom, seemingly in a daze but its attention was grabbed by Dante when the half-devil groaned. He sat up and rubbed his head, instantly grabbing ebony and ivory as the demon descended onto him, quickly joined by five others that appeared from nowhere.

"Carla, get out of here now!" Dante yelled.

Carla nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her and ran into the bathroom. She opened the window and climbed onto the ledge. She looked down to calculate the distance and after a brief pause, she crouched down and grasped the ledge. Slowly and carefully, she began to lower herself until she could drop safely to the ground below, but just as she began to lower herself, a demon appeared at the window. She screamed and lost her grip, screaming again as she fell to the floor. The impact she was expecting never came. Instead, she found herself in a pair of strong arms. She let out another scream and jumped out of their arms, turning to face him.

"Vergil. Should've known" she spat.

"So, have you worked out the source of your power yet?" Vergil asked her, dismissing her comment.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it" she bluffed.

Vergil raised an eyebrow.

"Well that's just too bad. I've had enough of waiting. I crave your power, and I want it. Now."

He reached out and grasped her arms, covering her mouth with his own. At first, Carla thought it was so that she couldn't scream, but suddenly, she realised that he was sucking and the breath in her body was beginning to leave her. She tried to breathe through her nose but he quickly covered it so that she was completely smothered and unable to breathe. He kept sucking and Carla felt as though something was being pushed up through her body. Feeling light headed from the lack of air, she began to thrash, but she was no match for him. She began to see black spots in her vision and knew she had to do something soon or he would kill her.

Suddenly, it was like something clicked in her. She focussed on the energy that she could feel being literally sucked out of her body and immediately sensed that whatever it was, it was fighting to stay inside her. She placed her hands on Vergil and immediately, it was like she'd set off an explosion. There was a brief flash of white light and Vergil was propelled through the air, barely managing to stop himself from crashing into a large oak tree. He glared at her and moved towards her but Dante came round the corner and fired a few rounds at him. Deciding he wasn't yet strong enough to take on Dante especially as he didn't have Yamato with him, Vergil simply nodded and vanished.

Dante looked at Carla, who was now lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

"Carla!"

She smiled weakly up at him.

"I'm okay. He tried to take that power he keeps talking about but I think I managed to use it to stop him. I just need air."

Dante nodded and while Carla continued gasping for breath, he quickly ran inside to grab her bag that had been abandoned in the upstairs hallway. As he turned to leave he had a thought and disappeared into her room to grab the lamp at the side of her bed. He knew he didn't have a spare one so she'd probably want it. As he turned to leave, he glanced at the photos she'd stuck to the walls, his eyes widening as he saw a photo in a frame with the word MOM underneath it. He whistled, half in shock, half in understanding and headed back outside, to see with relief that Carla had managed to get up onto her feel. Dante placed her bag on his shoulder and handed her the lamp.

"You'll need it," he said before she could ask. "And, I know what you are."