Well, I guess that is it. Thanks to those who reviewed this story, added to favourites or simply read it to the end)).
I wonder how many of you made it here because I think there are parts that look like they had been written in some sort of a crazy haze. o_O
Anyway, I'd be even more thankful if you dropped me a line-)

Chapter 10

"What?" Dante stared at him in confusion. That was the least expected question under current circumstances.

"That was because of your brother, right?"

"What are you talking about?" The expression on his face turned into the one of complete bewilderment.

"Forgetful now, aren't we?" The demon scoffed. "All right, we shall play it your way. Your friend and his wife were murdered the other day and, being a human… well, not that. Feeling as a human, you had considered it your duty to find out the attacker's identity."

Yes, that was how it started. The police didn't have any evidence and the only information they got was that the wound in the woman's stomach had been inflicted by a thin and elongated blade. That didn't really suggest anything and the arrows pointed to no one in particular. It could be anyone his fellow hunter had possibly crossed paths with.

But the moment Dante stepped into the crime scene he realized that there was no one he could fool but himself as everything – even the air itself – was penetrated by the energy he would recognize everywhere and in any state. Vergil. His brother had been there and there was no need to look at the bodies to know who was responsible for the whole mess. But why? Why did he kill those innocent people? Just when he thought that two years after Vergil's homecoming things were returning to normal, that they were finally past the tragedies of their family, he was forced to see something that stroke out everything he believed.

"But of course, as good a brother as you are, you didn't let the facts put you up to the truth, despite its obviousness." – The demon jeered, just as if he was somehow following the course of his thoughts. "Impossible! You thought. I should let him prove everything wrong!" he mocked in a high-pitched tone, making Dante clench his teeth in an impotent anger. He felt like a fool and it didn't help that the demon was right. That was what he had been thinking and that's why he had gone to Vergil's apartment.

He wanted to hear him justify himself even though he knew that his brother would never stoop to something as disgraceful as excuses and justifying. He would sooner confirm whatever Dante asked about just to get rid of his brother. "Yes, Dante, that was how it happened. Anything else?" He didn't care one bit what people thought about him. The very idea of someone judging him was laughable to the half-demon. And Dante knew it too well but still persisted in his stubborn unwillingness to face the undeniable and instead wanting to hear the version of the truth from his brother's mouth. Perhaps his senses were playing hell with him back then…

"You didn't find your brother when you arrived at his dwelling place, but.. You found something much more interesting." The demon smiled, widening his eyes in emphasis. "Blood covered clothes. Proving enough even for your blinkered eyes, wasn't it? And you decided to give your brother up in a bar. How human. But the irony is…"

"And how is that any of your business by the way?" Dante cut him off suddenly, narrowing his eyes, his chin slightly upwards.

"Ah, but it is so amusing – the stories of souls giving something up. There is a collection I own and yours is going to be the most senseless one."

"Oh really?" Dante scoffed. "Well, I beg to differ because senseless is the way I'm gonna kick your hidden ass!" He twitched in his restraints slightly, glaring daggers at the demon.

"That reminds me." The demon muttered thoughtfully. "It's time for you to benefit to my people's wellbeing. Put him there." He motioned towards the guillotine and the guards took Dante under his arms, dragging him roughly towards the altar. "Since your blood is demonic this world would be provided with good harvest for a large period of time. How long do you half-breeds live? Decades? Centuries? But unfortunately you would not have a chance to find out."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure." Dante breathed out, suddenly stopping and shoving the sole of his boot into one of his guards' knee. The guard hissed, easing the grip for a moment and Dante used it to knock the other one to the ground along with himself. Once on the back, he used his legs to kick off the other guards that tried to approach him before jumping to his feet. "I will live through death and use the morning flight from Hell just to make sure you get your due thrashing!"

"That would not work." Dante didn't last long in that position as the men threw themselves at him, including those that had been keeping Herbert at place. They let go of the human who was quiet as a mouse during the whole conversation, and tackled Dante to the ground but this time two men picked his struggling form up by the arms and the other two grasped him by the legs, though it was pretty hard considering the strength Dante was demonstrating with his desperate attempts to throw them off, contracting and expanding like a mad swimmer using breaststroke.

Realizing his own uselessness and being unable to make any sound, with a growing horror Herbert watched them drag Dante in that awkward position towards the execution point, ignoring his yells and loud curses. He couldn't just figure out what they had been talking about. What was with that coming from Hell and demons? He hoped, for the last time, that it was just a very, very bad dream.

"As you may see, there is a soul catcher above the altar. There would be no single piece of you left after we're done with you." The demon added before vanishing into the portal which, however, remained activated.

Dante's eyes widened as he gaped at the guillotine they were nearing as he noticed that it was turned athwart to the altar so when they cut his head off it would fall – he refused to even think about it! – right into the hollow on the altar he hadn't noticed before. Just above the hollow there was something that looked like a fume hood, attached to the upper side of the altar and covered with runes and demonic symbols, which was supposed to take in whatever spiritual essence left the demon hunter's body (if he had any). He had no idea how could something like that work – even exist! - but the very possibility of it made his insides cramp.

"Shit!" His thoughts frantically dashed about in his head and he found himself screaming when they shoved him into the crook of the deadly mechanism, placing his head into position where he faced the altar hollow. "NOOO, damn it!! It wasn't supposed to end like this!!" He doubted that even he could survive something like that especially if there would be no form to bustle about in the underworld if he possessed something as human as a soul.

"Stay away you freak!" He yelled as the familiar old man approached the construction and reached forward to pull the trigger of the mechanism that would set the blade off. Dante kept struggling but with his hands tied he couldn't do anything to get himself out of the wooden frame as the guards blocked his every movement from behind. "No, no! Don't do it!! DON'T!!!"

The old man smiled. Something chinked.

"NOOOOOOOOO-"

BANG!!!

...

In a couple of moments Dante snapped open first one eye, then the other before looking down and wondering why the hell he was still breathing if his head was chopped off. He'd never been through that procedure before so he couldn't say for sure what the afterlife felt like. Turning his head slightly to look up he saw that the blade stopped just mere centimeters from his neck. Huh? He blinked and swallowed as he stared at the shining blade of katana which embedded itself into the soul collector, thus blocking the path of the guillotine's major component which bended slightly from the collision with a more solid metal.

"Wha-" Before he could comment the occurrence and thank whatever virtues had saved him something jerked him back and out of the guillotine's frame, nearly making him topple over at the abrupt motion. His hands were free but he couldn't make himself believe his deliverance until he turned around to see the familiar scowl on the face of his brother. The guards that had been keeping him at the mechanism were sinking to the ground, pierced by summoned swords that could still be visible in their bodies.

"What a screamer you are." Vergil stated dryly.

"Dude…" Dante finally breathed out, a goofy grin slowly drawing itself across his face, as he failed to come up with anything else due to the gamut of emotions that consumed him. "Duuude." He took a step forward, his arms slightly raised, only to be stopped by a lance that flew through the space between them, making Dante turn his head to see that they were being surrounded by infuriated locals, weapons ready in their arms. Something was shoved into his hands which appeared to be his twin pistols as he looked down before meeting Vergil's expressionless eyes again.

"Now look alive, will you?" Vergil said angrily before pulling Yamato out of the soul collector and slicing the first hunter that threw himself at him. "Since I have kindly prolonged your useless existence." That brought Dante out of his dreamy haze of relief and he snarled, narrowing his eyes.

"You could have been a little quicker about it, slowpoke."

"I beg your pardon?" Vergil stared at him with an are-you-serious expression, a bunch of the summoned swords glowing above his head before lunging at the crowd. "Is it complaints I hear?"

"Yes it is. Where the hell have you been? They practically turned me into a Nearly-headless Nick. No, Totally-headless Nick, dammit!" He fired off another two villagers and the rest of the crowd was now acting less reckless as they switched to the ranged fire, showering lances at them which they had to dodge or deflect with their own weapons.

"Impossible." Vergil muttered in disbelief, dodging another lance. "Have you ever heard of the word "gratitude"? Now quit whining or I will make sure this gearing finishes what it started properly."

"WHAT!!" They heard a loud growl as the demon reappeared from out of the portal, eyeing Vergil with an astonished look. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

The villagers froze in place, along with the half-demons who looked up at the grey form of the indignant hellish creature.

"Oh, we come as a unit, you know." Dante smirked, making Vergil curse inwardly. "As in the ads like "Buy one twin, get another for free."

Meanwhile Herbert finally collected himself and used the demon's distracted attention to drag his ass along the ground with the help of his legs to one of the nearby guard bodies. Spotting what he was looking for – a dagger – he moved so his back was facing the body and grabbed the dagger with his tied hands. There was nobody else to rely on, that was for sure.

"BUT HOW??" Dante knew that as soon as the demon realized that now he had not one but two samples of perfect blood he would order his worshippers to attack them for the second time. He didn't want to shoot all those humans just because they didn't know what's right and what's wrong any more. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. Of course! The altar! That must be the thing that bound their worlds together. Once it's destroyed, everything would go back to the way it had been before. Well, in theory, at least. But how would he get close to that thing with the demon watching their every movement?

"Well…" From the corner of the eye he caught sight of Herbert's manipulations. Good. He needed to distract the demon. "We... are twins," He started hesitantly, making pauses after each phrase. "Born from one zygote.. which divided into two separate embryos.." Vergil's brows quirked up and he turned to look at his brother, wondering if he was hearing things. "…Which means that we have nearly identical DNA and that makes it possible to consider us as two halves of one person." He grimaced inwardly as he honestly doubted if he made any sense, but why was Vergil giving him that look? It's not like biology and genetics were his strong points. He shrugged his shoulders.

The demon fell silent for a moment, trying to figure out how it affected his portals' work principles and Dante used it to signal Herbert to sneak up to the altar.

"That does not explain it." The demon frowned as he looked down at the twins. "But still, the better for us to have both of you at our disposal. Prepare for-" He didn't finish as he noticed the human, but it was too late. Though Herbert had no idea what Dante wanted him to do. "What is-"

"STICK IT INTO THE CENTER, BERT!" Dante yelled as human raised his arms, aiming for the round disk atop the altar and bringing the dagger down.

The demon growled as the streaks of light shoot out of the altar, throwing the human away and making him clutch his upper arm as he lied on the ground, wincing in pain. It felt like a damned strike of lightning!

The demon darted forward, trying to get his body out of the portal before it closed but it was working as a whirlpool then, pulling everything in. The altar began to fall to pieces, accompanied with portions of energy that kept bursting out of it, the stone cracking and crumbling to dust. The demon's grey hands tried to grasp at the altar's upper elongated parts but they were falling off as well so with a last shriek the creature was completely sucked in. The portal closed, the last moments of its existence sending a wave of energy that consumed the half-devils and the rest of the residents. Before they could realize what was going on, the ground disappeared from under their feet, and the world turned upside down.

------------------------------

"No, hell, NO!" he cried out as his eyes shot open, darting around in the darkness. Where was he? Herbert looked around, confused, but then realized that he had fallen asleep in the side street. He leaned back against the wall where he was sitting, and ran a hand through his tousled hair. What a strange dream, he thought. Demons, cannibals, lianas... Perhaps I should see some shrink? But he would probably say that it's the result of pent-up frustration and anger at my team... Yeah, everyone is out there to beat me, eat me, blah-blah-blah.. He sighed heavily and remembered that he should already be home. What time was that? He searched around for his rucksack and saw that it was nowhere to be found. Damn, he was robbed!! Oh, God, mom would kill me for the cellphone! His mind screamed as he got to his feet and trotted towards his house. The movement though caused him to clutch at his arm as it stung slightly. Where did that come from? He wondered as he spotted the small burn. It almost looked like.. No, don't even think about. You have a lot of other problems to take care of besides your "almost real" dreams. Like your little mean girlfriend. Okay? Okay. Yes, he was a coward but since he could take out a demon, he would cope with this lowdown bitch. He shook his head and moved forward. Oh, no, you didn't just say that. Did you?

------------------------------

It was the same empty alley, the same time of the night. Nothing was disturbing the owners of the near houses in their peaceful slumber. Suddenly something flashed in the darkness and two objects were thrown down to the ground, both forms groaning at their rough landing.

"God damn it." The voice resounded as they tried to lift themselves off the ground, their heads spinning and dinning just as if they had been inside the huge bell that someone had rang at the time. Perhaps it would have been better if they had just blacked out like the last time. "I can't remember the last time I-"

"Shut up!" The other growled as they tried to get on all fours, moving and hitting each other in their disarray, like two myopes that dropped their glasses on the ground and were now trying to grope for it in a blur. "Just like I said this was all because of you, you hopeless dimwit. Strange that it was not the gluttony or sloth demon that was out for your blood."

"Hopeless, huh? So you've heard everything, haven't you?" Dante asked as they packed themselves into a sitting position, holding their buzzing heads. "You could have stopped them long before they put me into that thing! Hope you enjoyed yourse-"

"Dante," Vergil let out an aggravated sigh. "Do not make me regret my decision. Or I will see about acquiring one of those pieces of machinery as a domestic utility. "

Dante narrowed his eyes. "Ah, you're a sadist."

"Yes, I am," Vergil replied flatly. "Especially when it comes to you, little brother. Think about it first before doing something as foolish as breaking into my-"

That was when they both remembered the demon's words and both instantly realized what the other was thinking as they gazed at each other in an uneasy silence. Vergil awaited the question Dante hadn't had a chance to ask and this time Vergil couldn't say for sure if he would really want to leave it unanswered.

Mainly because he didn't kill that human. Apparently their family hunt the other day had gone wrong because his wife ended being possessed and attacked him. When Vergil arrived for the information he wanted to get from the two on some grimoire the man was already dead and he had no other choice but to neutralize the woman as she became absolutely uncontrollable.

"So," Dante spoke, snapping him out of his thoughts, as he rose to his feet, dusting his pants off. A smirk appeared on his face as he watched his brother follow suit. "Now you know why I dropped by. And if you don't have any other questions I'm gonna replay that damned evening and get clinched again because that moron totally blew it." Honestly, he didn't consider himself that hopeless anymore. Vergil had stopped the machine. And that meant a great deal to him. But it didn't mean that he couldn't get wasted just for the fun of it. "Wanna join in?"

"It's already morning. Who is drinking in the morning?"

"Ah, you're crape-hanger." Dante scoffed. "See ya around." He saluted and began to walk in the opposite direction. What was that beast he had drunk? Ah, "Blue dusk"! Yep, I'm coming, baby. He chuckled as he trod towards the lit street in the distance in anticipation. Suddenly he stopped, turning around.

"Hey, there is something I need to ask you."

So he wanted to know. Very well. Vergil met his eyes, deciding that he would give him a fair answer for once.

"What is it?"

"You know, if a vegetarian ate any of those plants that were eating people – which are meat – he wouldn't be a vegetarian anymore?"

"What?!" Vergil gaped, drawing an outburst of laughter from his twin. "DANTE!!"

---the end---