Chapter 9 - From Bad to Worse

With the three of them shooting out lights, Dante, Lady, and Marvin didn't have much of a problem from the Shadows. None of them said much to each other on the way to the warehouse either, unless it was Marvin pointing out a direction. When in rural areas, sometimes they'd spy the curtains to houses opening for only a moment, as if the people in their homes might've been watching the three from their own darkness, wondering who they were and possibly what they were doing.

The only hard part about it was the walk considering it was on the other side of the town. With West Springs being such a small town though, the fact that the hardest part was walking all that way told just how easy it had been with the three of them. The Shadows were never given a chance to cast themselves because of the fact that they all had guns, loaded guns that was, and Dante's ammo seemed to be infinite. Having realized that on the way, Marvin had asked him if he ever reloaded.

Dante had simply told him only when he was bored.

It was a full moon out that night, so the two human counterparts of the trio could see better outside than in, and Marvin had looked up and ahead of themselves after Dante had replied. He was, of course, about to ask Dante how that was possible, when he'd spied the remains of a body. They were currently on West Clover Street, where Marvin's brother in law, Ed, lived. Near the roadside was a corpse, one wearing clothing typical of Ed, and Marvin stopped in his tracks. The body was face down on the pavement, and Marvin glanced down with a loud sigh. "Goddamn it, Ed," he muttered.

Dante glanced over at Lady, and then watched Marvin stepping over to the body. Lady had shot the nearby streetlight out from a distance, and therefore the Shadows couldn't attack them, but apparently, someone should have done so earlier, as they'd already been through this area. "Did you know him?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, he's my wife's brother." Marvin stopped at the body, looked at the charred skin as if he'd been terribly burned in a fire, and didn't want to turn the man over in order to see his face, the look of agony that was surely etched into his features permanently. Marvin thought about it for only a moment, and then he shook his head of short brown hair once again, "Ed, if you only would've listened to me. Christ, I didn't want this to happen." Marvin started clenching his fists, turning away from the body and wondering what could have happened to his wife and child. Had this very same thing happened to them? When he found them, would they be just another couple of charred corpses?

"Hey, Marv," Dante said, walking just past him and looking back as a slight breeze picked up and brushed through his white hair and his red trench coat, "Don't torture yourself about it. Ed chose his own path, everyone does it. Your family needs you, so just concentrate on findin' them. Just because he wound up this way doesn't mean they did."

Dante didn't linger after he gave Marvin those words of wisdom, and as he began walking off, Marvin watched him, and then glanced at Lady as she came up beside of him. "I hope he's right."

"Well," Lady started, beginning to walk with Marvin, "he's not a stranger to loss himself. We both know the best thing is not to concentrate on the goal but just getting there first."

Marvin made a little smile, thinking the words over for a moment, and knowing they were both right, he'd simply forgotten them. If he wondered now what had happened to his family the way he was, he'd really work himself up into a frenzy and not do anyone, especially his family, any good. Of course, he was a cop, and had been trained to think that way when he'd been in the academy. But sometimes, especially when it involved your loved ones, you forgot exactly what you were supposed to do. "I don't wanna say anything to Dante about it, not right now, but I do wanna thank both of you somehow. If I get outta this alive, I wanna do something."

Lady smirked, looking over at him for a moment, then ahead again before finally saying, "You've already been a big help whether you know it or not." The words weren't spoken lightly, and they made Marvin feel better, if even only a little.

They continued on from there in silence. The road seemed long and nearly never ending, but the warehouse came up in the distance soon enough, the area nearly pitch black once Dante and Lady got done taking care of all of the lights. Marvin had a thought as they walked along toward their destination, and he told them of it, that the Shadows almost seemed to be like spotlights to something bigger, as if anyone who passed within the light of the town at night would be taken out for not following some kind of rule or whatever it might've been that they weren't doing right; perhaps a method or means for control over them. Dante's reply to that had been that he never tried to jump to conclusions because it wasn't always easy to tell what a demon was really up to, but he did agree with the whole spotlight similarity.

Stopping before the warehouse now, Dante stood there looking it over from what he could see of it, the steel walls and arched roof, noticing a bit of light coming from the cracks beneath the doors they were standing in front of, and he asked Marvin, "What the hell kind of warehouse is this anyway?"

"Just some storage space for an office building somewhere in town."

Dante walked over to the door and then tapped on it with Ivory as if he were knocking. No one made a sound, either from the outside or the inside, alerting him that either there was no one inside, or that he was about to walk into a trap. Looking back at his two comrades, Dante grabbed the doorknob, then tugged. It was stuck or locked, who was to say? So he stepped back and aimed with both of his guns, firing at the door, the light from the blasts flashing off of his face, illuminating him like a strobe light nearly, showing what he was doing as one after another, holes formed in the door around the knob itself. Once they encompassed the entire doorknob, Dante shoved his foot forward into the door and broke it down with a loud thud.

"Knock, knock."

The room inside was large, crates and boxes sitting neatly on shelf spaces, and forklifts and a few skyjacks to move large objects lined the floor. There were hanging light fixtures in rows along the ceilings, but even as the light shined down on Dante as he entered the room, no shadows were formed. "Seems pretty quiet to me," he muttered, walking inside. Lady and Marvin followed him, both of them glad to no longer be fighting in the dark for the moment, but something told all three of them that this peace and quiet wouldn't last for too long.

Heading into the middle of the large room, they all suddenly heard someone clapping, and looking up, turning their heads and aiming their guns, they saw Arias sitting on the edge of one of the forklifts, Puck perched upon his shoulder as he continuously clapped his hands together slowly as if he were giving them credit for something. Dante stepped toward him, "How the hell did I know you'd be somewhere around?"

Arias stopped clapping and smiled finally, looked over at the devil hunter, and he lifted his hand, "Of course, but if you're thinking I have anything to do with leading a cult, then no, I was actually only here to deliver them a message. They've a new leader now, and as for myself, I was clapping because of your performance. The fact that you've made it so far in this town at night is wondrous, and I'm sure you have the valorous policeman to thank for that."

"Who is this guy?" Lady asked Dante blandly, eyeing Arias through multicolored orbs that said she wasn't completely impressed or excited to meet him at all.

"You haven't introduced me!?" Arias asked, feigning a pout. "How sad. But I know you, Mary," he spoke pointedly, "whom I envy for being able to put a bullet in your own father. Your act inspires us all with hated fathers to press on and eventually overthrow them."

Lady sneered at the demon, "My name is Lady, asshole," she grumbled out at him pointedly.

"Yes, yes, and I am Arias, dear Lady, please forgive me. It's just that, well, Arkham, the old fool he was, never called you anything but that, and hearing that name again and again causes a habit to form."

Dante rolled his eyes, "You knew Arkham?"

Arias snorted, "Knew him? Where do you think the whole idea for Jester came from? Alright, I'll admit, it wasn't completely me, but I suggested to him a polar opposite just to see if he'd do it."

Lady and Dante shared an annoyed glance. Marvin had no idea what they were talking about, and he just remained hanging back for the moment, feeling it was the safest thing to do at this point. Dante then told Arias less than sincerely, "Thanks. Dick."

Snorting in amusement, Arias shrugged his shoulders, "The man was no complete illusionist, he lacked the skill to have been one, but he did well enough I suppose, though he could never compare to me, the one and only."

"You done jerkin' your own chain yet?" Dante asked the apparently self important demon as he stepped forward, guns in hand, waving one at him, "Cause I'm sick and tired of hearin' it."

"Ah, that's right, I forgot, you don't like people with a bigger mouth than you have, correct? Fine," Arias replied, tracing his fingers over his lips and an actual zipper formed over his mouth.

Lady groaned and she lowered her gun finally, sighing loudly, "Let's get on with it if we're going to, I'm tired of all of this monotony."

Despite the fact that Dante was very inclined to agree with her, he wanted to know something from the demon sitting just ahead of them, "I'm gonna regret asking you anything, but what the hell does Democrities want with Regan exactly, Arias? He needs the kid to undo the seal on his powers in this world, right? Why is Regan so damned important?"

Arias lifted his brows and snapped his fingers as if he'd forgotten something, and then he started mumbling words with the zipper still on his mouth. As this happened, Dante folded his arms over his chest and turned his head away from the demon, tapping his foot on the floor slightly with a bit of impatience. "Unzip your mouth, dude, we can't hear you."

Shrugging, Arias unzipped his mouth and the zipper faded away, apparently doing it for the very purpose of annoying the trio, and he smirked as he said, "The child isn't undoing any seals, she's actually needed to simply unleash his power into this world, by her blood can it rise," he rolled his eyes slightly as if even to him the cheesy words were annoying, but then he went on, "as for Regan, she's somewhat of a bride to him, a conductor to carry his power forth into this world, to sustain it here. As long as he has her, his little Gateway, the transfer should go smoothly. I'll warn you as well, once the Sacrifice is taken and his power rises under her control, she won't exactly be the same woman anymore. Better get to know her now while you can. She's destined to soon be the matriarch of a higher form of military."

Dante still couldn't figure out one thing, "It still doesn't make any sense. He can release his powers into this world without some kind of conductor, so why doesn't he just do it?"

"Because he needs to remain in the underworld where he can unleash his power there on other demons who'd rise up to thwart him. He'll gain much more power down there if he has a Gateway here in which to use a portion of his energy to enslave the human world and ensure that his power grows down there in order to rise to the top. Sounds like fun, neh?"

Dante, though he didn't look it as he rolled his eyes, thought over those words for a few moments. So Democrities was not only after human domination, but also demon domination. What a greedy asshole. "Ya know, since you're so damned intent on telling us everything your dad's up to and trying to ruin his plans, why don't you just cut to the chase and introduce the two of us so I can kick his ass and get it over with?"

Arias started chuckling, "I may be a thorn in my father's side, Dante, but I'm not on yours either. I'm in this for my own gain, namely the power I'm receiving for doing this on my father's behalf. I don't care whether he succeeds or doesn't, all that I care for is my own rewards, like so many other demons among us all. I apologize for my lack of a vibrant plot within this play, but therein lay what it is," he sat back slightly upon the forklift on which he was sitting, then quoting Oscar Wilde, "the world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."

"Yeah, so why don't you exit stage left, now," Dante retorted.

The retort brought a smirk to the demons lips as he lounged, then glanced black eyes back and forth between the two before him now. Then he looked at the human standing behind them, and finally tilted his head, "If you wish me to go, then perhaps I will, but not without telling you a short story." Arias cleared his throat before he went on, saying the story in the form of a poem off of the top of his head.

"There once was a man with a face made of stone.

He sought out all power for that of his own.

One day in the underworld he found where he lie,

there were three glowing lights just ahead in the sky.

In that very moment, he had a bright thought,

'Why this is the demon my daddy once fought!'

So with ambition and the lusting of power at heart,

he took off in a sprint to attack the old fart.

He left his old life and his twin brother behind,

to caring anymore he became completely blind.

So pity, my friends, to the younger brother give,

because his is a very lonely life he has to live.

For losing a mother is great burden to bare,

but let me finish this story this before you give me that glare!

You see now his whole family, the dust it has bit,

He is the last Sparda whose name does still fit!"

The last line was spoken as if informing Dante that he was pretty much assed out completely when it came to being alone, and Dante, who was tired of this, just drew up his guns. Lady followed suit and weapons began opening fire, but as soon as they did, Arias had disappeared in a shimmer of smoke. Silence ensued the gunfire, and Lady glanced at Dante for only a moment, then she said to Marvin, "Hide before it gets bad."

Marvin decided to listen to them, after all, it was apparent this person wasn't human, and the two standing before him now were the professionals here, not vice versa.

Dante looked around, trying to spot anywhere that Arias could have gone, but he didn't see the demon no matter where he looked. Lady had done the same in the opposite direction, turning her head away from Dante, and when she did, an undulation of smoke appeared between the two of them. Marvin saw it and he told them, "Between you!" As soon as he spoke, the two turned their heads when a fist came out of the smoke wafting there now and slammed into Dante's jaw, causing him to reel back before Arias moved away and out of the smoke in the blink of an eye, forming from it, slamming his shoulder into Lady's chest and knocking her across the room. As she went flying, she broke several crates, her body crashing into them with her loud grunt of pain.

Arias smirked deviously, slowly standing back up, his long black hair framing his face, hearing Dante coming in behind him quickly, and he turned and drew his own blade from his back, swiping it up against Rebellion as the silver blade came down. Arias and Dante knocked each other's swords immediately away and following the movements was a set of powerful strikes to each others weapons. Dante was aggressive where Arias's movements were a bit more elegantly placed, but Arias had speed enough to keep up with the onslaught Dante was putting him through, and when their blades met again finally, they remained locked for a moment.

"You're a little bit rusty, dude," Dante told him.

"This coming from a cocky kid with a lot to learn, gee, wonder if I should listen to him and cry a river," Arias replied with a less than offended tone of voice.

The sharp sound of metal scraping was heard when their blades were drawn around one another's. The sparks it caused, Dante's silver blade against Arias's black blade, flew away from them, and Dante told Arias, "That's not very polite, here I am trying to insult you, and you throw it back in my face. Didn't Daddy teach you any manners?"

"Oh," Arias drew back, swinging his sword down and stepping to the side quickly as Rebellion came up beside of him, "you've got some bite in you. I'm shakin' in my boots."

Lady had pushed herself back up as they fought, none too happy about the cheap blow Arias had delivered to her. Once she'd steadied herself, she got down onto one knee, and pulled Kalina Anne off of her shoulder, swinging it around. Aiming it at Arias, she knew Dante had already seen her, and she muttered to herself as she got Arias in her sights, "This has some bite, too."

Lady fired a rocket from the powerful weapon, jolting back a bit when she did. The powerful projectile flew toward the two opponents, and both of them stopped for a moment. Dante moved out of the way, using the strength in his legs to propel himself upward, and the rocket exploded just a moment later leaving behind a burst of fire and smoke all around the area where Arias had stood.

On top of a tall shelf space now, Dante looked back down as he stepped toward the edge, at the smoke resulting from the explosion apparently, watching it wafting up and around. Lady narrowed her brows and waited, pulling her guns from their holsters and holding onto them tightly while she waited to see what the result of her strike had been.

The smoke started fading away, leaving a definitely darker, black figure standing there, apparently unfazed. Arias shifted into a shimmering of black smoke as the explosion had engulfed him, and as the smoke cleared, he reformed into a solid being once again and glanced about with a sigh. Then he reached up and scratched his temple, saying, "You know, I find it somehow annoying to be shot at with a rocket." He turned his head to Lady, "Now I know why your father disowned you, young lady. That wasn't very nice."

Lady sneered, then she drew her guns up and began firing with the words, "Shut up," grunted out at him. But Arias disappeared once more, reappearing behind her, and he turned and drew the hilt of his sword up against the back of her head hard and swiftly, hitting her with enough force to make her see a bright light flashing before her eyes. Lady grunted and she fell forward, knocked completely unconscious. It was a cheap move on Arias's part, and he knew it, however, he couldn't be concerned right now. He had more to worry about than a simple human devilhunter with a short temper, and he wanted to make sure he could deal with it no matter what tricks he had to pull from his sleeves to do it.

Marvin, standing near by, took a step back, knowing he would be unable to do anything to help Lady with Arias so close. Turning his head, Arias looked at the human who stood there staring in his direction, and while Marvin wasn't completely showing his fear, bravely standing his ground where he was, Arias could see easily into him, and he knew the things Marvin feared, knew exactly what to show him to make him tremble.

But Arias ignored him as well.

The time in which it took to knock Lady out and for the two to share a glance was no more than the time it took for Dante to pull out Ebony and Ivory, effectively getting himself back into this by aiming the twin guns and pulling the triggers. Of course, Dante hadn't expected to hit Arias, and instead, was just tired of not having any attention, not to mention he didn't want Arias doing anymore damage to Lady than he may have already done.

"Get your ass over here!," he taunted as he pulled the triggers. "Stop being a fuckin' two timer!"

Arias moved in a shimmer of smoke, heading toward a crane as he drew Venom out and used it to cut through a cable that would make the metal hook rise into the air before he got to it. He jumped from where he'd cut the cable suddenly, a foot landing in the hook of the crane as it hauled him up to where Dante was standing atop the large shelves of various materials, and he swung around, opposite foot landing on the top of the shelf, his blade meeting that of Rebellion's.

"One day, Dante, I have the feeling we'll meet again. Tonight, though, doesn't harbor a conclusive outcome."

Dante sneered at Arias, then he let go of his two handed grip on Rebellion, using one hand instead as he swiped the sword up with that hand and used his free one to whip Ivory around from his jacket and into Arias's gut, pulling the trigger with a powerful, close range blow to the demons abdomen.

Jolting back, Arias turned and Venom moved quickly with the momentum cause by the blast Dante had just hit him with. The tip pierced the flesh of Dante's cheek, slicing it open for only a brief moment and drawing blood before the wound completely healed and nothing was left of it but that blood staining the devil hunters cheek.

Both of them fell back and away from each other, and Dante used the moment to move forward with a swift thrust of his sword, jabbing the tip through Arias in the same place he'd just shot him, eyes an icy cold that was unignorable given the completely feral look on his face. As he felt the sword moving through the body of his opponent, he jabbed it in further, causing a spattering of black blood to erupt from Arias's now black lips, his hands gripping both the blade of Rebellion as it impaled him, and the hilt of his own sword.

Slowly tilting his face up, Arias looked at Dante, a small smile slowly lighting the newly made black lips, and he asked with a bit of rasp to his tone, "You feel it, don't you? That headache starting now. Surely the blow wasn't much, but even then," he trailed off with a breathy grunt, "it was enough for a slight bit of damage."

Since Dante had no mirror, he didn't see that there was a veiny marking of black on his right cheek below his eye where the blood had trailed down his skin. Narrowing his brows, he cringed a bit, feeling a pain moving throughout his head something akin to a headache from inhaling too many chemicals through your nose, but he refused to allow his hold on Rebellion to break just yet.

"It's name is Venom," Arias choked for just a moment, "with good reason."

The pain became piercingly sharp as he'd said that, and Dante stumbled, letting Arias know that he could move now. So Arias jerked himself back and off of the blade, both devil and half devil toppling to the sides, their breathing heavy, though now that Arias had dislodged himself, he was healing up much faster than Dante was.

"I suppose with your human blood, it won't be as effective. Probably just a good hangover." Arias pushed himself up with the blade of his sword in the surface of the shelf on which he stood, and he began walking toward Dante who felt as if something were piercing his cheek now constantly and he couldn't get rid of it. Arias tilted his head to the side as he watched the pain on Dante's face, the streaking of veins covering nearly the entire right side of it, only his hand covering as he'd reached to hold his cheek. "Nevertheless, it'll give me the time I need."

Dante could barely get his eyes open now, especially his right eye, so he just used the sound of Arias's voice and went to pull out his guns. That, however, was when he felt a hard boot slamming into his shoulder, knocking him off of the side of the tall shelf on which he'd been standing and fighting, all the way to the floor below. Marvin watched from where he'd been trying to awaken Lady, heard the thud of Dante's fall, and then glanced around as he saw people emerging from the shadows, all of them wearing cloaks and hoods. Cultists, he thought. Things had just gone from bad to worse for himself.

"I bid you all adieu," Arias spoke loudly enough for Marvin to be able to hear him from where he stood. "May judgement spare you quickly to a painless death." With that, he took a bow and vanished into a puff of smoke from where he stood atop the shelf, leaving Marvin, Lady, and Dante behind with the cultists now on their backs as the robed figures drew in closer to the three to have their way with them.