Avatar: Taste the Blood
Chapter 12
Femme Fatale
I have returned! New chapter, and one step closer to the invasion, which I'm just grinding my teeth in anticipation to write. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Oh, and t.m.p.a? ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!!!
It was the dead of night on a full moon, and the gang was gathered around a fire after dinner. Sokka had suggested they all tell scary stories. Their first choice was obvious, after all, Dante was the resident demon expert, so he of course had some terrifying stories to share. Of course, while his tales were no doubt gruesome and even nauseating, he didn't quite have the flare of the storyteller. He was acting like he was telling a joke rather than recounting a life or death battle with horrors from beyond the physical plane.
"So, the one's literally holding its intestines in its hands, tryin' like crazy to shove them back in," he laughed as he recounted a story, "and the other's crawlin' around feelin' for his eyeballs, and in the meantime, I'm just worried about all the blood that's on my coat. Let me tell ya, there was tons of it to, like just a total pond full. I was so bad my boots were sticky for days."
He finished with a nostalgic smile on his face. Meanwhile, Aang and Toph were visibly grossed out, Katara had a hand over her mouth, and Sokka was over in a bush hurling out the last of his dinner. That just made Dante laugh more.
"Man you guys are lightweights."
After Sokka returned to the camp fire, more than a little wobbly in the leg, they continued with their story telling.
"So, anybody else got one?" asked Dante.
"Well…I don't think I'll be able to follow that one up, but this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."
"Is this another one of those, a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to story?" asked Sokka, recovering quickly from his vomiting session.
"No, it happened to mom."
Sokka immediately straightened up, and the rest of the group was pulled in as well.
"One winter, when mom was a girl, a snow storm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, mom realized she hadn't seen her friend Mimi since the storm, so she and some others went to check on Mimi's family. When they got there, no one was home, just a fire flickering in the fire place. While the men went out to search, mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice: 'it's so cold, and I can't get warm'. Mom turned and saw Mimi standing there by the fire. She was blue, like she was frozen; mom ran out for help, but when she came back, Mimi was gone."
At this point, Aang was huddle up with Momo, Toph was…Toph, and Sokka was hiding behind a large tree root. Meanwhile, Dante was contemplating the validity of the story. He'd met ghosts before. Hell, he'd met a few low level spirits before, so it was entirely possible, but then again, people were easily spooked.
"Where'd she go?" asked Sokka.
"No one knows. Mimi's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes people still see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Mimi is still trying to get warm."
A silence fell over the group until Toph perked up and touched the ground with her hand. "Wait guys, did you hear that? I hear people under the mountain, and they're screaming!"
Sokka, Katara, and Aang were huddle close together until Sokka broke off from the trio.
"Pfft, nice try."
"No, I'm serious, I hear something."
"Y-you're probably just jump from the ghost stories," Katara reasoned.
Toph was quiet for a moment.
"It just…stopped."
"Okay, now I'm getting scared."
All of a sudden, a voice came from beyond the treeline. "Hello children."
Every one of them save for Dante shrieked and huddled back together. Dante just laughed more.
"Like I said; total lightweights."
Out of the shadows stepped an old woman with long and wild gray hair and common Fire Nation robes.
"Sorry if I startled you, my name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds," she offered.
Sokka looked relieved. "Yes please."
Meanwhile, Dante was wondering something. How did Dante hear that woman coming…when Toph didn't feel it first? He came to the conclusion that the screaming in the mountain might not be completely untrue after all.
Once they were back at Hama, they were all seated at a long table in a dining room, and served tea.
"Thank you for letting us stay here, you have a beautiful inn," complimented Katara.
Hama smiled. "Aren't you sweet; you should be careful, people have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."
Dante's cup was just up to his lips when she said that, which caught his interest. He lowered his tea slightly. "Is that so?"
She nodded. "When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out. Who wants more tea?"
Dante was simply staring into his cup.
"Interesting," he murmured.
"Don't worry," she reassured them, "you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good nights rest."
The next day Hama woke them all up early for some shopping in the local marketplace. Sokka and Dante were stuck carrying most everything they bought. As they walked down the road, Dante's ears perked up and he was able to listen in on a very interesting conversation.
"You won't have any Ash Banana's until next week?"
"Well I'd have to send the boy to Hing Hua Island to get them, and it's a two day trip."
"Oh right, tomorrow's the full moon."
"Exactly, I can't lose another delivery boy in the woods."
All these mysterious disappearances were definitely odd. He'd have to do some snooping around later; maybe even head into the woods at night to see what was up. He might be able to run into whatever was doing this and kill it. For now though, he wouldn't worry about it.
"People disappearing, full moon shenanigans, this just reeks of full moon shenanigans," said Sokka.
"I bet if we take a walk around town, we'll be able to find whatever these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad."
"It's not the spirits," said Dante suddenly.
"What do ya mean?" asked Aang.
"I mean, I've been getting a weird vibe about this whole village since set up camp last night, and now people are disappearing. I'm thinking this is something a little more demonic."
"You think, I mean the spirits have abducted people before to," protested Sokka.
"I didn't say it was definitely a demon, I said it was a possibility. Personally I hope it is a spirit, at least they can be reasoned with. If it is a demon, then it would have to be pretty slick, not to mention strong, to have captured people without one single witness. Who knows, it might even be another Devil Arm. Either way we won't know until we can poke around a little."
"Why don't you all take that back to the inn," said Hama, "I just need to run a couple more errands, I'll be back in a little while."
Sokka approached her suspiciously. "You have a pretty mysterious little village here."
Hama merely smiled. "Mysterious village for mysterious children."
With that, she walked off.
With Hama gone, the five of them returned to the inn with the groceries in tow. Sokka set down a carrying bowl of fruit.
"That Hama seems a little strange, like she knows something, or she's hiding something."
Katara was, unsurprisingly, the first to defend her. "That's ridiculous, she's a nice old lady who gave us a place to stay. She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran."
"Yeah, but what did she mean by that comment, 'mysterious children'?" questioned Sokka, rubbing his chin.
"Gee, I don't know, maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?"
Sokka still didn't seem convinced, and frankly, neither was Dante. He had to admit, even though he was sticking to he demon theory, Hama was pretty out of the ordinary. She had an underlying malicious air to her presence, one the demon hunter didn't take lightly. Because of this, a very rare phenomenon occurred, the likes of which Katara doubted she'd ever see again.
"I'm gonna take a look around," they both said in complete unison. Sokka and Dante were actually thinking the exact same thing. What was stranger was that neither of them seemed to even notice.
After the momentary surprise, Katara as well as Aang and Toph all ran after them. They were climbing a staircase when she called to them.
"Hey, what are you two doing? You can't just snoop around someone's house!"
"It'll be fine," Sokka assured them.
Dante opened a door; there was nothing really in the room.
"But she could be home any minute," said Aang nervously.
Both he and Sokka both continued down the hallway. Sokka found a cupboard on the wall and began yanking on it.
"Guys, you're going to get us in trouble, and this is just plain rude!" Katara scolded.
"We're not done yet."
Sokka pulled as hard as he could, and finally yanked the doors free. A few puppets ended up falling out, causing Sokka to leap backwards and draw his sword. Dante sidestepped him as he flew backwards, letting him hit the wall.
"I've got to admit that's pretty creepy," agreed Aang.
Katara closed up the cupboard. "So she's got a hobby, there's nothing weird about that. You two have looked enough, Hama will be back soon!"
They both ignored her as they climbed another staircase up to attic level. There was a single door to the left, which Sokka vigorously tried to open, but to no avail.
"An ordinary puppet loving in keeper huh; then why does she have a locked door up here?" he questioned.
"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff."
While this was going on, Dante had knelt down in front of the lock, and had pulled out two small pins from his pocket to try and pick it open. Just another skill he'd picked up while living on the streets.
"Well, it's empty unless you count that chest," he commented as he continued his attempted break in.
"Maybe its treasure!" exclaimed Toph.
Both she and Sokka got excited and wide eyed.
"Dante, this is crazy, you're breaking into a private room!" scolded Katara.
"Look, I'm not tryin' to justify this or nothin', but sometimes investigating involves a little bit of rule breaking. Like it or not, Hama definitely isn't normal, and what's in that chest could give us a clue as to why."
Just then, he heard the last of the tumblers click into place, and he grinned.
"And Bingo was his name-o," he muttered, and pushed open the door.
They all walked in at once, Dante leaning over and scooping up the chest. He tried to open it, but it was locked. He could have easily broken it open, but there was a fine line between snooping around, and destroying property.
"Great, another lock I have to pick," he sighed.
Toph extended her hand. "Wait, give it here."
He complied, and she bent her metal bracelet into a key, and inserted it into the lock.
"Hurry, hurry!" urged Sokka.
"This isn't as easy as it looks," she grumbled, meanwhile, Katara was practically having a conniption.
"Guys I don't know about this," said Aang hesitantly.
Katara finally gave up on them. "This is crazy, I'm leaving."
"Fine, suit yourself," dismissed Sokka, "do it Toph."
She took a few steps away, but when Toph finally opened the chest, she scrambled right up with everyone else to see what was inside.
"I'll tell you what's in the box," said a voice behind them.
They all whirled around and saw Hama standing in the doorway. She stepped in towards them and Sokka handed over the box with a look of shame. Hama reached in and grasped whatever was inside.
It was a pretty anti-climactic let down when all that was revealed to be inside was a blue comb.
"An old come?" whined Sokka.
"It's my greatest treasure. It's the last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."
"Wow," mumbled Dante, "what a twist."
"You're from the Southern Water Tribe?" asked Katara in awe.
She nodded. "Just like you."
"How did you know?"
"I heard you talking around your campfire."
"So why didn't you tell us?" demanded Sokka.
"I wanted to surprise you. I bought all this good today so I could fix you a big water tribe dinner. Of course I can't get all the ingredients here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough."
No one noticed Aang's look of distaste. "Great," he muttered.
"I knew I felt a bond with you right away!" exclaimed Katara happily.
"You feel a bond with everyone right away," murmured Dante.
"And I knew she was keeping a secret!" added Sokka.
Dante smacked the back of his head. "We knew she was keeping a secret; anyway, sorry about the sneakin' around."
She smiled. "Apology accepted, now let's get cooking!"
By dinner time, Dante was starving, but looking at the spread of "food" on the table, he decided it would be better to go to bed hungry than die in the middle the night from explosive diarrhea.
"I'd steer clear of the sea prunes guys," whispered Aang.
"I thought they were ocean kumquats," replied Toph.
"Close enough."
"Who wants five flavored soup!" offered Hama.
Curiosity got the better of Dante's stomach, and he raised his hand along with the rest of them. Even he was surprised when Hama delivered her soup via waterbending.
"You're a waterbender! I've never met another waterbender from our tribe!"
Hama's expression changed to one of sorrow and remembrance. "That's because the Fire Nation wiped them all out. I was the last one."
"So how did you end up all the way out here?"
"I was stolen from my home. It was over sixty years ago when the raids started. They came again and again, each time taking more of our waterbenders captive. We did our best to hold them off, but our numbers dwindled as the raids continued. Finally I to was capture; I was led a way in chains, the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe."
Katara moved and put an arm around Hama's shoulder, trying to comfort her.
"They put us in terrible prisons in the Fire Nation. I was the only one who managed to escape."
"How did you get away, and why did you stay in the Fire Nation?" asked Sokka.
Hama shook her head. I'm sorry; it's too painful to talk about anymore."
"We completely understand; we lost our mother in a raid."
"Oh you poor things," she said, patting Katara's hand.
"I can't tell you what it means to meet you, it's an honor; you're a hero."
"I never thought I'd meet another waterbender from our tribe. I'd like to teach you what I know so you can carry on the southern tradition when I'm gone."
Katara shot up excitedly. "Yes, yes, I'd love to. To learn about my heritage…it would mean everything to me."
Katara had gone off with Hama to learn a little waterbending, so while they were out, Aang and the rest of the group went out to see if there were any environmental disturbances so they could rule out spiritual activity. As they expected, there wasn't a thing wrong. In fact, it was some of the healthiest wildlife they'd seen in a while.
"This has gotta be the nicest setting in the Fire Nation, I can't see anything that would make the spirits mad around here," said Aang.
"Maybe the moon spirit just turned mean," suggested Toph.
Before Dante could all his two cents worth into the conversation, Sokka whipped around with red in his face.
"The moon spirit is a gentle loving lady! She rules the sky with compassion…and…lunar goodness."
Normally Dante would ask what that was about, but he somehow got the vibe this was something from before he'd joined the group, and was better left alone. He quickly forgot about it anyway, as a traveler passed by. Aang approached him and questioned him about the spirit abducing people.
"Only one man ever saw it and lived, and that's old man Ding," he replied.
Toph grabbed his sleeve. "Where does old man Ding live?"
That night, the four of them went out into town to find old man Ding. He was outside his home, lining up a hammer to a nail when they finally located him.
"Old man Ding?" asked Aang suddenly, causing the elderly man to smash his thumb with the hammer.
"Ah demblamit; what, can't ya see I'm busy? Got a full moon risin', and why does everyone call me that, I'm not that old?"
He bent down to pick up the wooden plank he'd dropped, but couldn't muster the strength to pick it up.
"Eh, well I'm young at heart."
Aang moved to help him lift it, and hefted it up against his window.
"Not old enough to get snatched up by some moon monster at least!"
Sokka picked up the hammer. "We wanted to ask you about that."
"Did you get a good look at the spirit who took you?" asked Aang.
"Didn't see no spirit, just felt something come over me, like I was…possessed, forced me to start walking towards the mountain! I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs! It just about had me into a cave up there, and I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then the sun started to rise, and I got control of myself again, and I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!"
"Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?" asked Sokka.
"Oh no; I did hear screaming under the mountain, the missing villagers must still be there!" exclaimed Toph.
"Somehow, I just knew this was gonna get weird. This is almost getting a little too predictable," muttered Dante.
The four of them had been running up the mountain with Toph as their guide. She could feel where the prisoners were being kept, and eventually that trail led them to a small cave in the middle of no where on the mountainside. They came to a stop and looked down into the black abyss.
"This is the place," Toph announced.
"I can't see anything down there," commented Sokka.
Toph grabbed his arm, "That's why you have me, let's go."
With that, they all jumped right in. It was dark, but Toph could lead Aang and Sokka on just fine. Dante was fine to begin with, he had always been able to see fine in the dark, he guessed it was another perk of having Sparda for a father. He continued on guide-less.
They continued on until they saw a light. That light was actually two torches that illuminated a thick metal door. Toph easily smashed her way through it, and the four rushed forward, Sokka holding one of the torches. Turning a corner, they came upon what they had been looking for.
There were dozens of people chained to the walls and rocky pillars of the cave. They ranged from all ages and genders, from old women, to young boys, and vice versa.
"We're saved!" exclaimed one of the men.
"I didn't know that spirits made prisons like this; who brought you all here?" asked Aang.
Toph and Dante moved to free the prisoners of their shackles; Toph with her metal bracelet, and Dante with just his bare hands and sheer strength.
"It was no spirit," spat a middle aged woman.
"It was a witch!" added an old man.
Sokka stepped forward intrigued. "A witch, what to do you mean?"
"She seems normal," said the same middle aged woman, "but she controls people, like some dark puppet master."
"Hama!" the water tribe warrior concluded.
"Yes that's right, the inn keeper!" confirmed another prisoner.
"I knew there was something creepy about her!" Sokka shouted.
"We have to stop Hama!" exclaimed Aang.
Toph turned to the both of them. "Dante and I'll help everyone out of here, you go!"
Without any further coaxing, they were off. The light left them, but Dante and Toph could still easily complete their work. The two formed a slapped together system where Dante would rip the cuffs straight out of the wall, and the prisoners would form a line to Toph where she would unlock the shackles.
As the demon hunter was freeing the last of the prisoners the farthest back regions of the cavern, he spotted something. It seemed to hold some sort of luminance, and after everyone was free, he approached it slowly. It was caked with dirt and grime, and there were several boulders in front of it, but he easily shoved them aside to get a closer look.
From what he could tell it was a door. It wasn't made of stone or metal, but it was definitely hard whatever it was. He put his hand to it and felt…something. It was faint, but something was down there, something that wasn't supposed to be. He was half tempted to try and open it, but he was pulled away from his trance-like state when he heard Toph call his name.
"Dante, come on, we're going! The guys need our held!"
He chanced one last look at the door. "Right, I'm coming!"
The run back down the mountain was a slow thing. A lot of the prisoners were tired, weak, and hungry. Toph decided that Aang and Sokka would probably need help, so she told Dante to go ahead of her. He was much faster than the average man, and ran through forest with reckless abandon.
He heard a commotion up ahead, and when he arrived, he saw Hama waving her arms around madly as Sokka was attacking Katara with his sword. She was just barely dodging and staying out of his range, so Dante thought it as good a time as any to jump in and help. He managed to leap into the battle right between Katara and Sokka.
With a swift motion, he dodged a forced thrust from Sokka, kneed his wrist, thereby knocking his sword out of his hand, and then whipped out Cerberus. He wrapped one of the prongs around Sokka's body, bending his arms, and then extended a second prong into a tree and letting it retract, binding the warrior in place against its trunk.
Once Cerberus was gone from his hands, he extended his arm, and through the wilderness Rebellion came spinning out of the treeline and into his hand. By this time, Katara had frozen Aang to a tree, and the two faced Hama.
"Well, well, I guess even sweet old ladies like you can be psychopathic criminals," Dante joked as he pointed the tip of his blade towards the waterbender.
"You're friend is quite annoying Katara, perhaps I should quiet him up."
Dante's body suddenly became stiff. He guessed this was Hama's puppet master like ability. For some reason he was able to resist it slightly, he still had some control of his limbs, though they were much harder to move now. Still, Hama seemed to focus most of her attention on his right arm, and he could do nothing to combat it. She forced him to turn Rebellion around and tried to ram it into his chest.
With her most of her focus on his right arm, he was able to throw left arm at the last second and divert the attack slightly to the left. His own blade sliced right through his shoulder, cutting through the bone. Rebellion was a devil blade like Yamato, it would still heal, but not instantaneously like normal wounds. It would take him a few seconds, possibly even a few minutes before it sealed up.
"You're quick, but I can still take you're arm!" she shrieked.
That was as far as she got. Dante finally felt his body fall back under his command, and Hama instead went stiff. He glanced over his unwounded shoulder at Katara, who seemed to be able to do whatever it was that Hama had been doing. The younger waterbender forced the elder down slowly, and held her there.
At that moment, Toph showed up with the prisoners. It didn't take long for them to take Hama into custody after that. As she was being locked up, Dante pulled Rebellion out of his shoulder. He inspected the wound, and as expected, it healing, but at a barely visible pace. It would take a few minutes to close up.
"You're going to be locked away forever," growled one of the former prisoners as they took her away.
"My work is done," she mumbled, "congratulations Katara, you're a blood bender."
Katara began to sob, and at any other moment he'd have been with everyone else trying to calm her down, but the door he saw within Hama's cave rose a question he'd been dying to ask.
"Hold on a sec!" he called to all the former prisoners and Hama.
They all stopped and looked at him.
"I just have one thing to ask…are any of you a delivery boy?"
After a moment he got no answers.
"Hama, you remember the conversation between the merchant earlier, the one about a delivery boy going missing? Did you abduct him?"
"…no, I didn't."
And there it was. That was all the excuse he needed to go back and check what was on the other side of that door.
"That's all, thanks."
They nodded, and continued taking Hama away. With that, he returned back to the rest of the group. Katara had settled down some, and was down to the occasional sob, and Sokka had managed to wiggle out of Cerberus to join Aang and Toph.
"I'll be back soon, I've gotta handle somethin'," said Dante, throwing Rebellion over his good shoulder.
"Where are you going?" asked Aang.
"I'm startin' to think my theory about a Devil Arm wasn't too far off. There's somethin' I've gotta check out, I saw it back in the cave."
Katara sniffled loudly and stood up. "Let's go then."
Dante shook his head. "No, you've had enough excitement for one day. You go back and get some sleep; I'll be back before ya know it."
They all nodded and Dante headed back up the mountain.
"Dante!" called Katara.
He stopped and half turned around.
"I'm…sorry, if I'd been faster you wouldn't have gotten hurt."
He scoffed and waved it off. "Don't worry 'bout it, it's already healing. By the time I get back up the mountain it should be all closed up. Now go to bed."
With that, Dante returned to his trek. The forest around the mountain was dark, but the moon was all the guiding light he needed and then some. He took his time getting to the cave; he didn't want to waste energy. He was expecting someone at least as tough as Cerberus, which means he would probably need his Devil Trigger as Sokka had dubbed it. It was about the only good name for anything he'd ever come up with, and Dante thought it too much of a momentous occasion to just throw away the name, plus it had a nice ring to it.
It wasn't long until he was walking back into the abysmal darkness of the mountains cave. After a few seconds his eyes adjusted to the further lack of light and he was able to navigate safely again. The cave wasn't very big, and he found the smashed in door pretty quickly. Now that the prisoners had been evacuated, it was eerily silent; only the occasional crackles of what he assumed were small animals against stray rocks and pebbles filled the air with audible sound.
He passed the cracked stone pillars where he head ripped the cuffs straight out, and proceeded to the back of the room. The door was still very hard to see even for him, it was so utterly covered with crusted over dirt and stone that he doubted anyone but he and Toph would be able to find it at all, and even he found it by sheer luck.
He moved closer to inspect it. There wasn't any clearly visible way to open it, no knob or handle that he could see. With no other options that he could think of, Dante decided that he'd have to blow the door down.
He took a few steps back and whipped out Rebellion. Pulling it back, he charged up a Drive attack, letting the energy flow freely through the demonic steel. When it reached a suitable charge, he swung the broadsword in a wide arc. The Drive slammed into the door, exploding on impact.
When the dust and stone that was kicked up from the attack cleared up, the door was no more, and his path was clear. Dante returned Rebellion to its resting place on his back until he needed it again, which he was sure he would. He stepped through the rubble of the door and looked out on what was on the other side.
What was presented to him was a spiraling pathway hugging the walls of the new chamber, reaching so far down it was reasonable to assume it drove itself down to the core of the earth. Dante was sure whatever he was looking for was down there, he was sensing an energy like Cerberus, but it was slightly different. It was a bit stronger for one, but it also felt a little more…sensual? He shook the thought out of his head and started down the path, he'd figure it out when he got there.
The path just kept winding downward, further and further into the earth. After ten minutes of walking he was beginning to wonder if this thing even had an ending. Thankfully, his answer was given to him not long after that. He was so used to leveling himself out at a downward slope that when he finally hit flat ground, he wasn't prepared and almost fell right on his face.
Looking up, there was only one direction he could take, and he followed the cavern further into the mountains depths. It was a short corridor, and at the end he was presented with a narrow stone bridge of sorts. It didn't look entirely stable, and below him was another large sea of blackness. He took a few test steps, and when he was satisfied, he walked its length to the other side.
There stood a door with a golden depiction of a woman. He stepped to take a closer look, but out of no where it just opened for him. It was confusing, but it was just another thing that Dante would just figure out later after his job was done.
On the other side of the door, he was pleased to find that it wasn't another black abyss and narrow passage way. Instead it was a wide chamber, almost like a small theater. To the left and right of him were sets of stone pillars, and both on them and in between them were masses of lit candles that served as the only illumination this deep in the mountain.
At first it seemed like the room was empty, but he could still feel energy pouring out of the place. He was about to head back and double check he hadn't missed anything when a number of bats flew past him. The all congregated directly in front of him, melding together to form…something.
Out from the mass of blotchy dark emerged a woman. Pale skin and the reddest hair Dante had ever seen, it hung in just the right place so to not leave her completely exposed. She giggled playfully as she came into full being, and her eyes immediately fell on Dante.
"Welcome sir, allow me to introduce myself," she purred, "I am Nevan."
Dante grinned and took a few steps forward. She approached as well, to the point where they were nearly chest to chest.
"I haven't had a visitor in so long," she said seductively, trailing her hands around his shoulders as she circled him.
"Gets kinda lonely down here I imagine."
Nevan had come full circle and was in front of him again. "You have no idea."
"I take it that's why you're abducting people in the middle of the night, huh?"
She grinned slyly. "Smart boy, just like your father."
Dante's eyes narrowed, causing the Nevan to giggle further. "Oh don't be so surprised, sugar. Every demon knows Sparda's power, and yours is just too similar to ignore."
She approached him, stopping a few mere inches apart from him. She reached up and lightly brushed his cheek with her fingers.
"It has that same…manly…quality to it," she uttered to him in a whisper.
"I'm still wonderin' how you managed to abduct people. As far as my pops books were concerned, you're glued down here until somebody releases you."
She smirked and backed away slightly. "I may be contained here, but my sweet pets roam free in the night, and they bring me back their catch every full moon."
Again, she moved closer to him, swaying to his right and leaning in on his shoulder.
"But enough talk, I've been waiting millennia to finally have some company, let's not spoil the happy occasion."
A grin returned to Dante's face. "You're right; in fact, we should have a party."
Nevan grinned and drifted a distance away. Dante walked after her, freeing Rebellion as he walked.
"Well then, come on sugar."
Two more steps and he broke into a run. He didn't know what kind of abilities or attacks this Nevan used, but the only way he was going to find out was if he attacked. She made no effort to evade him as he swung Rebellion. He was about to make contact when his blade impacted something at the attack was averted. Dante jumped back, not wanting her to capitalize on his opening. He looked over to his right once he had escaped her range, and there laid three downed bats that were slowly fading away.
"My pets will gladly defend me, I wish you luck landing a blow," she purred.
Dante scoffed and twirled Rebellion in his hand a little. "Well, that all ya got?"
"Hardly, sugar."
Nevan extended her hand forward and four of her bats broke away from the rest and glowed with a purple demonic aura, lightning crackling all around him. Dante leaped and dodge-rolled to the side, and the bats crashed into the, exploding. Once he rolled back to his feet, he charged Nevan again, this time was rough plan.
They were both near the left side of the theater as Dante closed in. Nevan fired off three more electrified bats. Dante responded by throwing Rebellion, slicing through the bats easily, and causing Nevan to sidestep the blade, turning her back to the pillars around the perimeter of the theater. Just like Dante wanted.
With her attention momentarily off him, he leaped and then Air-Hiked up, planted his foot on the pillar right behind Nevan, and whipped out Cerberus. He extended on of the prongs and was able to wrap it around the demons neck as he pushed off from the pillar and landed on the steps of the strange stage that resided at the front of the room.
He tugged the pronged weapon and lifted Nevan off the ground, whirling her around until he reached just about full circle, then released the weapons grip on her, sending her flying high towards the wall on the opposite side of the room, over the door he entered in. Just as he had let her go, he had called back Rebellion from the wall it had embedded itself in. He let go of Cerberus, grabbed Rebellion, and flung it after Nevan, impaling her through the stomach just as she hit the wall. She slumped over against the sword, pinned against the stone.
He walked over towards her, calling back Rebellion and letting Nevan hit the floor with a thud. She slowly staggered to her hands and knees, clutching the wound in her stomach.
"Geez, that was easy, kinda disappointing actually. I was expecting you to be a lot stronger. Cerberus at least wounded me a little."
Nevan gasped for air. "Just…like your father."
"Yeah, yeah, just like my pops, whatever."
"Incredibly…gullible," she wheezed.
Dante was about to ask why when Nevan suddenly shot up, two black blurs emitting from her hands. They bit into Dante's flesh like blades and he felt blood spray out as he stumbled backwards and the wounds sealed shut, stemming the flow of blood. He scrambled back to his feet again, only to find Nevan right in front of him. She spread her arms wide and latched onto him, wrapping herself tightly around him.
He struggled to get loose, but she leaned in and he suddenly felt a little lightheaded as Nevan lightly grazed her lips against his. The lightheaded sensation wasn't because he was enjoying it…okay, he was a little, but mostly it was because his soul was being sucked out.
His vision began to blur, colors and sights all melding into one mish-mesh. Random images began to pop into his head; he supposed his life was flashing before his eyes, if you believe in that sort of thing. He saw a few of his childhood, some with his training with Piandao, and more recent ones of his adventures with Aang and the rest of the gang. Despite how messed up his life had been, those three series of images had depicted three of the happiest times of his life, and he wasn't about to let them end here.
He reached deep down and pulled on the core of his demonic energy. He felt it rise to the surface and flow freely through his veins, clearing his head and returning his senses. A burst of power erupted from him, blowing Nevan off him and back into the wall again.
He stood in his red, horned form, clenching Rebellion tightly as Nevan worked her way out of the rubble.
"Oh, now that's a pleasant surprise," Nevan said with a grin.
Dante did as close to a smirk as he could in his current form. "Try and take me now."
"My pleasure, sugar."
Dante felt a tingle against his ankles and looked down. The ground began to glow and generate electricity. He didn't need a university education to know that he didn't want to be on the ground much longer, so he jumped up into the air and stayed afloat thanks to the wings granted to him by his Devil Trigger. As he predicted, the ground became a storm of electricity.
As it began to fade, Dante swooped down at Nevan and slammed Rebellion downward at her. The Succubus was able to twirl to the side just in time to avoid the strike. She then retaliated with a spinning attack with the same black blades as last time. Dante rolled under it easily, and swung Rebellion again, this time biting into the flesh of Nevan's back.
She stumbled forward, fumbling to turn around as she retreated. Dante went after her, and she responded by sending more bats at him. With his increased speed, he was able to dodge the bats easily. He slashed with Rebellion again when he got close enough. Nevan was nearly out of bats, and didn't want to sacrifice any just to block the attack, to she too the hands on route, literally. She brought out her black blades and blocked Rebellion, and threw Dante back.
The half demon dug his feet into the ground, and stopped himself from losing too much ground. As he began to advance on her again, Nevan used the last of her bats in pairs to send high speed electric currents at Dante. The first was a horizontal current, which he easily jumped over, the second was also horizontal but slightly higher, so he ducked into a roll the second he landed. The last one was much larger; a five current vertical wall of electricity.
Dante brought Rebellion back and charged up the steel with demonic energy. In his Devil Trigger state he could charge Drive attacks twice as fast, and in just a moment he had all the energy he needed. He flung the sword in a wide arc and the Drive collided with Nevan's electricity. The two opposing forces exploded outward, temporarily blinding both opponents.
Dante shot forward, using a Stinger attack. He came flying out of the debris, and with a finally defenseless Nevan, he rammed Rebellion through her chest. The blade slid through her body until she hit the guard just above the hilt. He kept running her through until the blade pierced through the rock of a pillar some distance behind her, permanently pinning her to the wall. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice; he wasn't pulling Rebellion back out, and he'd made sure it was practically unmovable physically. Nevan gasped for breath, the broadsword preventing her from repairing her wound.
Dante reverted back to his normal form, shaking his head a little. Devil Trigger was becoming less and less tiring every time he used it. Now he was just subject to a little dizziness when he transferred back out of it.
"You're done," said Dante, "just gimmie your soul so I can go to bed."
Nevan still managed to giggle. "Your father…was a handsome devil…but your no slouch…yourself."
With that, she disappeared in a purple aura, and her soul floated into his hand. As her soul took form again, he looked down on a violet colored instrument. It looked like a very spiky lute. Dante reached down to where to strings would be, and plucked. Instead of strings, there were electric currents, and the note was much louder than he'd heard an instrument like this produce before.
He smirked and brought his hand down more violently this time, striking all the "strings". Not only did he produce an even louder noise than before, but bats like the ones Nevan used sprung up from the ground and surrounded him. At first his thought was to attack, but they seemed to be ignoring him and instead obeying him.
When the note faded, so did the bats, and Dante set the tip of the instrument down against the ground. As he did, the lute-like instrument folded out, transforming into something similar to a scythe.
"This thing just gets better and better!" Dante chuckled.
He picked it up again and whipped it to the side, folding it back up again. He called back Rebellion, and put both weapons on his back in a crossed position, while Cerberus was hooked to his belt. He was building something of an arsenal.
With one final sigh, he began his long walk back to town.
It was the next morning, and the group was busy loading up Appa. Dante still hadn't come back after he had left the previous night, and they were starting to get worried.
"I knew I should have gone with him."
"He chose to go on his own Katara," said Aang, "Besides, I'm sure he's okay, he's Dante."
Sokka threw a sack atop the saddle. "Yeah, remember, the guy who fought the crazy three headed dog?"
"Don't forget his scary older brother," added Aang.
"And Combustion Man!" called Toph as she left to get the last of their things.
Sokka nodded. "Right, Combustion Man to! I'm sure whatever Dante ran into, it wasn't nearly as bad as all the other stuff we've had to deal with."
Just then, they heard a bang come from the doors of the barn. They all looked over and saw a dirt smeared and tattered Dante. He walked awkwardly into the barn, rubbing his head.
"Dante, you're alright!" said Katara happily. She rushed up to him and was about to welcome him back, when she caught a whiff of him. He stunk to all high heavens, so much so that Katara reeled back and had to plug her nose.
Sokka and Aang were curious and jumped down, approaching Dante as well. When they got in proximity of him, they also smelled him and instantly mirrored Katara's actions.
"Woo! Dante, what crawled on you and died?" asked Sokka.
"Well," he began, "I was right when I suspected a Devil Arm in the mountain. I beat her though, and got a cool new weapon. Anyway, I was pretty wiped out after the fight, so I just slept in the woods. I got a little lost coming back; else I probably would have gotten here sooner."
As he finished explaining, Toph came back with their last supply sack. She could tell everyone was plugging their noses and was confused as to why.
"What's your guys' problem?"
"You mean you don't smell that?" asked Katara.
She shook her head. "No, why?"
Dante chuckled and passed them all by. "Well anyway, I'm pretty much sick of this place, so let's hit the skies, eh? We've got a party to get to ya know, and I'm never late for a party."
They all nodded and climbed aboard Appa. In a matter of moments, they were soaring through the skies.
"Dante," said Katara.
"Yeah?"
"The second we land, you're taking a bath."
Another Devil Arm bites the dust. Yeah, they're sorta showing up out of order, but it just makes things easier for me, so in case you feel the compulsive need to complain...don't.
That aside, I was never a fan of this episode. The bloodbending thing seemed forced, and it was never even mentioned again after that episode if I remember correctly. I suppose it makes sense, Katara would be just short of unbeatable if she were to use that technique on anyone of importance outside a filler episode. Seriously, with the kind of power Katara would be packin' on a full moon, she could kick everyone's ass! It wouldn't be Avatar: the last airbender, it'd be Katara: the last bloodbending pyscho-bitch.
Now, before I start ranting any more than I already am, I'll let you go on the condition that you drop a review.