: twelve :

It was dark. So very completely, dark. A inky blackness that she couldn't see anything in. You know how when it is dark but over time to can see the outlines of shapes or if you close your eyes you can see patterns and what seems to be lights? That didn't happen. It was just almost black. She couldn't see anything, she felt like she was numb. She tried to move but she couldn't tell if she could, or if she was just stuck… just thoughts in this darkness. She had no idea how long she was like this, stuck in the darkness. There was no way to tell the passing of time. Maybe… this was all that there was? That was all there ever had been… and that she should just stop thinking and rest.

i d o n t t h i n k s o . i a m n o t f i n i s h e d w i t h y o u y e t .

She was confused by the foreign thought. It was not hers… where had it come from? She wanted to ask but then she felt something, a soft warmth pressed against her lips. She could feel the pressure, the pleasure of the touch and she remembered what it was. A kiss. Suddenly images of her mother and father flashed before her, her mother and father kissing, a loving touch. Then, like a screen she saw images flash before, images of parents, of kisses, of love. Then a man appeared. It was a face she knew very well though sharp but kind eyes, that soft looking hair, a dashing smile. This someone was very important to her but for the life of her she couldn't remember his name…

Subsequently, she felt a tug, well more of a soft stead pull on her mind. For a moment she couldn't breath, the pulling becoming harder, making her move faster until she was pulled from the black… into to… the dark? Well it was still dark but… there was still light. She could feel things as well. And well the first thing Jazmin could feel… was her head. It was throbbing almost painfully; a rhythmic pounding, a rhythm that had been oddly missing when she was in the darkness… Her mouth was dry, and her tongue felt fuzzy and fat, the tastes of something awful lingered as well. Her hair felt damp and wet and cold well the rest of her, say for her feet, was oddly warm but still quiet damp. She tried to move. Nothing happened. She told her arm to move up to rub her face. Still nothing. She tried something smaller, a finger. She concentrated as hard she could without busting a blood vessel but still nothing happened. She frowned… or at least she thought for frowning but her face didn't move to mimic the emotion. What the…? She couldn't move at all. She couldn't even get her muscles to twitch in response to her commands.

Completely frustrated Jazmin was becoming increasingly distracted by the muffled sounds she was beginning to hear. It was almost like she was listening to someone talking through a wall or underwater. She listened closely, what? What was that it sounded like… oh… after another moment she was able to hear someone regularly once again. The voice that met her ears was familiar and it took her a moment before she recognized it as Dante's voice.

"Yeah I know. I know… what do you mean I shouldn't have used it?" He was talking to someone on the phone it seemed because she was most defiantly hearing only half of a conversation. He sounded irritated and angry, almost like he was arguing with who ever was on the other end of the line.

"She was dead! She actually died. No pulse, dead. Stone dead… what do you not get about the word dead. d-e-a-d, DEAD!" What! Who was dead? Who died? What did she miss? Dante was obviously agitated. She could hear his boots thumping on the floor as he paced back and forth, more likely than not next to his desk. She could 'see' him, glaring at the floor, a hand on his hip, pace, pace, pace. She good have smiled because the image was not unlike an angry child, though most angry children didn't kick down door or destroy builds when they didn't get their way. Oh, but now he was back to yelling.

"The fuck you mean she wasn't worth it? Of course she is worth it! I don't give a fuck how much it was worth. Her life is worth more." He was yelling very loudly and Jazmin was sure she heard a bit of his demon leaking into the words. He stopped talking again, and panted angrily for a few moments before he seemed to calm down a bit.

"Well its not like it would have done me any good anyway… yeah… I accidentally swallowed a bit. Yes is serious. I couldn't get my fingers to work for like an hour. Trish would you tell Lady to shove that gun in her mouth and shut up? God… I can't even think with her chattering the background…" He muttered the last bit as if talking to himself.

"What? No I'm not-… yeah, yeah… I know." He sighed heavily. "Yeah alright. Well I guess I don't really want to know do I? Just get ahold' that old lady and get 'er to call me will ya? Yep, yep, alright." The phone clattered noisily back onto the receiving telling Jazmin that the conversation was over. Well the hell? Who was this old lady? And why was Dante so pissed… an who in the world had died! This was all very confusing and uninformative, not being able to talk and all.

Jazmin could hear Dante's heavy footsteps again as he came towards her. She tried to move again, anything at all. Cooomme ooon! Nope… nothing. She heard Dante sighed again and then the crinkle of leather before there were hands on her shoulders and he was lifting her into a sitting position on the couch. Oh that was disorienting… she hadn't even relived she had been lying down. He pulled what ever had been wrapped around her keeping her warm, she concluded it was a towel, and stared rubbing her hair and none to gently either. She would have winced and told him to stop… if she could…

"Your clothes are all wet…" He muttered after a moment, the towel being left on her head but the hand leaving. He was silent for sometime and Jazmin knew that this would be a moment when she would usually blush, but she did not feel the warms of a blush across her cheeks. He was probably thinking dirty things again… dang it… she was almost glad she couldn't see his face, it would have just made things worse.

"I doubt you're gonna be happy with me when you wake up." He sighed and stood, scooping her up and carefully cradling her against his chest. She was unable to do anything about her head lulling against his chest so that she could feel the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. She could feel him slowly moving up that stairs as her mind was staring to slip back into unconsciousness, the steady rhythm of his breathing putting her to sleep. No, no, no staying awake was a good idea at the moment. Though despite her resisting, she had fallen sleep before Dante reached the last step.

Sleeping was awesome, waking up? Not so fun. Jazmin woke up slowly, awareness that she was laying down gradually registering along with the fact her entire body was aching.

She moaned softly, not bothering to open her eyes she tried to stretch but the required range of motion to move her entire body at once was too much and nothing happened. Jazmin frowned, again attempting to move and receiving the same outcome. However, the second attempts brought to surface the presence a heavy weight pushing down against her waist and around her legs. What was that? She gradually forced opened her eyes to find... a slightly tanned and very well sculpted chest. Humm… imagine that. Her eyes widened in slight shock and Jazmin swallowed hard. Okay no big deal, just waking up in the arms of… a… guy? She slowly pulled her head back, now noticing the chin resting on it, the bit of stubble on said chin tugging a bit at her hair, making it more chaotic than it already was. She first looked down and found that she was dressed, completely and it was rather uncomfortable. He clothes where stiff and clung to her skin like they had been wet and dried onto her. She wanted to tug at the cloth, make it lay properly, but even if she could get her arms to move at the moment she wouldn't have been able to actually fix anything with the arm over her waist. She then looked up.

Ahh... make 'a guy', Dante. She sighed softly, slightly relieved by the fact she did know the person she was in bed with. After a moment she peaked back at his face before stared at his sleeping face meekly, a bit of blush coloring her cheeks at the intimate embrace. He was so... quiet when he was sleeping. Compared to when he was awake, he looked so much more peaceful... For some reason the urge to kiss him rose in Jazmin's mind. Oh wow… where was that coming from? Well yeah, he was a good looking… a very good looking… oh who was she kidding? He was down right sexy. His attitude was one that could take quiet a bit of getting used to but his body? Stunning. His face? Gorgeous. And at the moment, she was being held in his arms, safe, warm, protected. It was almost romantic, that is if she wasn't seeing someone else. All the same she couldn't help but look. His lips appeared so soft, warm, and she absently wondered if they would taste like strawberries. This thought was followed by her biting her lip as hard as she could. Though, at the moment, that wasn't very hard.

Jazmin took a deep breath and willed her arm to move. Surprisingly… it obeyed, inching across the small distract between her body and his to slowly flatting against Dante's chest and pushing gently. Of course nothing happened. Her mind said push but her body continued to ignore her commands. How annoying… Frustrated and flustered by the fact she couldn't escape the arms of sleeping man she blushed even harder. Now what was she supposed to do? She doubted her could shake Dante to make him want up and she really didn't want to say anything, not that she was expecting her voice to be anymore than an embarrassed whisper. Now she was starting to over think things and her heart was beginning to pound in her chest. She was sure if anything that might wake him up. She could smell him; that almost sweet, husky smell peppered with the aroma of leather and gunpowder, which was Dante. This smell, from the time she figured out that he was a demon… made her crazy, in more ways than one.

"Merrrow!" Jazmin would have jumped and flipped over to look at the door she knew was behind her and more than likely the little white paw reaching under the door, but she couldn't move so she just thought about looking over there with a little sigh. Oh so that was what woke her up… Dante suddenly moved, something else that would have made her jump is she could have before he moaned softly in irritation.

"Mmm jus wanna shleep…" he murmured almost incoherently with a little sigh. He tilted his head back a bit, eyes still closed, and yelled quietly at Charles. "God cat… shut up…"

He then went to put his head back and tighter his grip around Jazmin, starting to pull her closer to him when he stopped, realizing that the head his chin had been on was no longer there. He relaxed his arms and opened his eyes, blinking sleepily. He smiled at her and she proceeded to glare at him, though her glare came across as a pout.

"Morning."

"Dante, why am I in your bed?" Jazmin asked quietly, trying to be subtle about pulling her hand away from his chest. Instead he glanced down as she slowly moved her hand, her fingers stiff so they softly trailed over his skin instead of moving away immediately like she had wanted.

" 'Cause your bed is too small for the both of us." He muttered reaching down and grabbing her hand before bringing it to his face and kissing her palm, making her blush brighter and try to pull it back away from the Devil hunter's face.

"Dante." She stressed his name, sounding agitated and a bit serious. He glanced at her then took her hand away from his lips, but not letting go, instead slowly kneading her palm and rubbing her fingers.

"Your clothes were wet. I was sure you'd get pissed if I took them off…" he said chuckling a bit and propping his head up with his arm. Jazmin looked away from his self-satisfied face, though her only other options where his chest or lower which would obviously put idea in his head so she looked back up.

"That didn't really answer my question." She muttered, after a moment, still not comfortable looking at his face.

"Humm? Oh, well I didn't want you to catch a cold so I thought I'd be your personal heater for the night."

"O-oh…" That was kinda… sweet of him. She blushed ever harder and was sure she would have been fidgeting under his grin. Dante chuckled again and moved so that he was laying down again, eyes closed why he continued to softly rub her hand. She watched him and for the moment it seemed like he was content to go back to sleep. For a moment his shoulder moved evenly as if he had, though Jazmin was very tempted to say something so that he would let her get up. Nevertheless, she never got the chance because Charles meowed, in that weird way he did, outside the door again. Dante suddenly growled under his breath before cussing quietly and suddenly standing up on the bed and stepping over Jazmin to stomp loudly onto the floor. The cat meowed again and he opened the door violent, which cause yet another meow.

"Fine you stupid thing I'll feed you. God, get out of the way or I'm gonna step on ya. Move…" He said loudly, his voice quieting a bit as he walked down the hall followed by a chorus of happy meows. Jazmin sighed heavily clenched her hand tightly. Oh… she clenched her fist. She did it again, quickly opening and closing her hand. Oh that was weird… she could move her hand just fine now. Maybe she was better? She tried to roll over, only to end up on her stomach, face uncomfortably pressing into the pillow. Dang it…

"Oh well that's attractive." Oh god Dante… she was going to punch him as soon as she was able to move properly again… and had time to get a cast.

"I can't move you ass!" She yelled, thought it sounded more like a bunch of muffled noises because of the pillow.

"Oh." He understood all the same and quickly picked her up, laying her down on her back and in a slightly more 'sitting up' position. "What do you mean you can't move?" He asked picking up one of her arms before dropping it. It flopped uselessly back onto the bed.

"I can't move mean's I can't move. What else does it mean?" She asked irritably because he picked her arm up again and repeated his experiment. When Dante finally realized she was actually meaning what she said and not over exaggerating his face become serious and suddenly worried.

"Can you move at all? Can you feel your body?" She frowned at his suddenly change in attitude from amused to intense.

"Yeah I can move my arms a bit and I can move this hand just fine." She said and she wiggled her fingers dramatically. Dante seemed to deflate slightly as if relieved. Oookay? What was that about? He suddenly stuck a thought full pose; hand on his chin as he looked at her. Then after a moment he walked to the end of the bed and sat, grabbing on of her feet.

"What are you doing-!" He rubbed his thumb up the middle of her foot. "Ah! Don't do that. Haha! That tickles!" Jazmin said loudly, unable to jerk her foot away from Dante's grip. He just smirked at her and continued to rub her foot, toes arch, heal up her ankle and slowly up her calf. He stopped there and moved to the other leg repeating the process, ignoring Jazmin's loud protesting and complaining about how much being tickled was not enjoyable.

"You are totally taking advantage of this situation aren't you?" She asked, pouting as she watched Dante's hands as they rubbed her legs.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He said quietly, not looking up from his work. Jazmin sighed softly then look back down her heart suddenly speeding up when she noticed how close Dante's hands were to the edge of her shorts. She bit her lip, watching as his fingers got closer and closer and closer and….

"How is that?" He asked, suddenly taking his hands form her legs and moving so that he could massage her arm. Jazmin blinked and she could feel the blood slowly coloring her face. What had she been thinking? My god… She couldn't believe she had been thinking that something like that. She was so distracted by the shock of her own thoughts she completely missed Dante's question. It wasn't until he asked her to give him her other hand that she realized she could move again, seeing as she, though slowly, moved her arm to let Dante continue his work. She looked down surprised by the fact she was able to move again. She experimentally wiggled her fingers then glanced down at her toes, which also moved on command.

"See." Dante said and she glanced at him, embarrassed once again. She must have looked childish or her hair wasn't messy enough because Dante ruffled her head and got up from the bed, walking to his dresser to grab a shirt after tossing two others on the floor. Jazmin sighed and, with some effort, was able to move her legs to the side of the bed and went to stand up. She was vertical for about three seconds before she tried to take a step forwards and her leg was no able to hold her weight. She yelped, closing her eyes and holding out her arms to try and stop herself from hitting the floor but Dante happened to be fast than gravity. She peaked when she stopped and frowned, letting Dante help her back into the bed. How annoying. Being able to move again but still being useless. She sighed deeply and Dante chuckled at her.

"Hey, relax. Just rest a bit will ya? Its not like you actually have anything to do… busy body." He said teasingly and left before she could protest. Jazmin pouted, crossing her arms hottily.

"I am not a busy body." She muttered, but after a few moments of silence she wiggled back down into the covers. After a moment she pulled the blanket up to her face and inhaled. Hum… smelled like Dante… She rolled her eye at herself. Well of course it would smell like him, it was his bed. She rolled onto her side and slowly let her eyes close again. Jazmin had a thought after a few moments. What would Nathen think if he knew what was going on… She sighed heavily. Well he would probably be pretty pissed off; maybe yell at Dante and possibly even jealous… thought Nathen didn't really seem like the jealous type. Hum what would Dante do if the positions were switched? She wondered just before she falling sleep.

Jazmin awoke to the sound of the bells jingling down stairs followed by the sound of the doors closing. She took a deep breath and frowned. It smelt like something had been burning. She rolled onto her back and stared absently at the ceiling for a few moments. Hum, something was missing. What was it? What was it? She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose trying to think. She gasped and looked down at her shoulder. It didn't hurt. Not even a bull throb. She suddenly sat and pulled the neck of her shirt to the side to expose her shoulder. She gasped in shock. She had been expecting to see angry red holes, or possibly gray skin and green ooze, even if the arm had been completely gone she would have been as surprised as she was now. Healed… her shoulder had been healed! What the hell was going on? The tooth marks that had once been deep gapping holes were not shallow depressions round her shoulder, a little more rosy and shinny than the rest of her skin. Not to mention she had what seemed to be complete range of motion. What in the world?

She quickly tossed the blankets to the side, and jumping to her feet. She paused suddenly, remembering what had happened last time. She leaned on the night table and took a hesitant step. Her leg still seemed weak but was able to bare her weight. Jazmin continued from the room, leaning on the wall and using the railing as much as possible. She stumbled off the last step, almost falling into the office, startling Dante who was sitting at his desk. He sat up suddenly, legs dropping to the ground. Charles, who had been snoozing on the Devil Hunter's desk bolted from the room, startled by the sound.

"Jazmin?" He was suddenly on his feet. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You should still be resting; I mean you d- um… I mean…" he started to say something and stopped short as Jazmin straitened and look up at him, a bit concerned.

"What is this?" She asked, ignoring his stuttering as she tried to finish his sentence. She pulled her shirt to the side to show him her shoulder. He raised an eyebrow, giving her a serious look before leaning over a bit to inspect her shoulder.

"Well that's you shoulder," Oh god… he was gonna kill her… "And those are the bite marks you got from the demon. You remember that tight?" He looked her in the face, fists on his hips as he glared scrutinizingly into each of her eye individually as if looking for some hint to what was going through her mind. She leaned back as a result of his close proximity and frowned at him.

"Of course I do." It was kinda hard to forget demons ripping your house apart to try and eat you.

"H-how long was I asleep?"

"Um…like…" He leaned back and stared at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment, his lips moving but no sound coming off of them, as he seemed to be counting to himself. "Thirteen?"

"Days?" Jazmin gasped, horrified. How had she been asleep for thirteen day!

"What? No. Hours." He said like she was completely insane. Jazmin frowned and looked away from Dante in confusion. Thirteen hours? She felt like she was going insane. No one healed that quickly… She started fidgeting as she began to over thing the entire situation.

"Dante… what happened to me?" She asked quietly then glanced up to the Devil Hunter. His eye widened suddenly and Dante quickly looked away, turning around and walking to the kitchen. She frowned after him because he really didn't look like he had a reason to walk away from her. She stumbled over to the desk and leaned heavily on it.

"Dante. Answer me." She said a bit more sternly and then his head popped out of the kitchen. He frowned at her for a moment then sighed, rubbing the back of his head and leaning on the doorframe.

"Ah… how do I put this? You…" he paused, almost dramatically but now wasn't the time to be dramatic. For some reason, Jazmin felt her skin crawl, like the words he was about to say where not good, not good and jolly at all.

"Ya… ya died Jaz."


herp derp... i dont really like the end of the chapter. it feels very forced. Idk but i may take it down and re write it when im not falling sleep on my computer. Kay ta da! Hope you guys like.

Please review! I love it so much when you guys do~!