"What a jerk," Lady complained as she took out a wolf demon. "He knows gardening isn't my strong point."
"That's Dante for you," Trish struck down a foe with Sparda. The wolf demons were easy. Lady even had Patty shooting them down.
"Someday I will get a real challenge out of these fools," Lady scoffed. "How are you holding up," she called to Patty who was safely in a tree.
"Just working on target practice," she called down as she shot another wolf down. She was protected by the newly repaired tear. She didn't know any spells but Trish had promised to teach her a lightning one later.
"Hey you are getting better," Trish approved as the one she was targeting was put down. The wolves were simple. They were made of smoke but their bit was pretty nasty. Their weak point is their head so it made an easy target.
"Thanks," she smiled as she climbed down the tree.
"Well she is learning from the best," Lady boasted.
"What am I," Trish gave Lady a smirk.
"Chopped liver," she answered.
"Very funny. Let's check out the rest of the court yard."
"Sure," Patty ran ahead. The court yard was overgrown. There were weeds everywhere. Vines covered what remained of the statues and walls. The fountain even had a tree growing out of it. Patty ran over to a wild rosebush.
"Careful."
"Okay, Lady."
"Cute kid," Trish smirked.
"Yeah she is going to be a killer when she grows up," both women laughed. They were enjoying their little apprentice. Patty's tear began to glow as she poked around the bush. She looked around and saw a metal box. She reached for it but was cut by some of the thorns. She sucked in her breath and pulled out the small box. It was no bigger than a shoe box. Lady brought her flashlight over to Patty.
"What do you have there, kid," she asked. Patty shrugged.
"I don't know but I think it is important. It must have been buried here for a while," she pointed out the rust on the box. Lady tried to open it. Locked.
"Patty do you have a hairpin," she asked. Patty pulled out a single bobby pin and handed it over. Lady bent it around and began to pick the small lock. It clicked easily as it was a weak lock. The lock hit the ground with a soft thud. She then opened the box. Inside was a pull pouch made of a soft red velvet. She dropped the box as she took the bag. Trish was instinctively picked up the box and began to look it over. She was checking for demonic spells. Finding a single symbol she memorized it. The symbol was primitive. It was likely just scratched in with a rock. It was a ward to prevent evil from finding the box. A simple ward that was easy to break. The symbol was of an eye being speared. The eye was meant to serve as the evil eye. Whoever hid the box was trying to be careful.
"What is it," Patty asked. Lady opened the bag and pulled out some papers. There were four in total. She scanned the contents under her flashlight.
"Looks like someone's diary."
"Weird place to keep one."
"Most people don't want their inner thoughts found Patty," Trish smirked. "Where do you keep your diary? Under your bed," she ended with a knowing voice. Patty blushed.
"Don't you dare tell anyone. That's where all my secrets are," she huffed.
"I didn't know until you told me," she smirked. She had a lot of things to teach the young girl.
"Hey guys," Lady interrupted. "I really don't get this. It's all about some kid named Adam and how he found out his true lineage by seeing visions through his third-eye. He goes as far as to mention who he hid it from. But this doesn't make sense. Why does Adam matter."
"Trish," Patty looked on confused. "Why won't anyone tell me the truth about this place."
"I have a feeling even we don't know the truth. We should start with Adam."
"So if we introduce Adam as the player and the person he was hiding the papers from, Thomas Black, then we have two people."
"Wait," Trish started up. "Remember how weird the first birth was? What if? Now this is a stretch ,but what if that boy is Adam?"
"What makes you say that," Lady looked at her confused.
"Think about it. That box had wards. We know that Thomas Jr. had demonic powers. So what if everything we knew is a lie. These pages may be our only clue. After all we were only going by rumors. Plus he was the only boy in this house at the time," Trish finished.
"Good call," Lady changed her posture to a more confident one. "That man is one sick mother-fucker. I really despise fathers like him. I swear if he is at the end of this," she smirked. "I am getting the final kill."
"No problems with that," Patty smiled gleefully. "We should keep collecting pages and fill in Dante when we see him."
"Good idea Squirt," Lady ruffled her hair. "But let's keep him informed now," she winked as she pulled out her phone and called said man. The phone rang several times.
"Hello," Dante's voice could be heard.
"Hey Dante. Just thought you missed the sound of my voice," Lady teased.
"No," he deadpanned.
"Well anyway we found some diary pages. Do you know anything about them?"
"Well kinda," he explained how the woman had told him to look for them and then he described the weird vision Vergil and himself saw.
"Fun," Trish replied in a dull tone.
"So they are just randomly scattered," Patty asked.
"It appears so. Just hang on to them will you," he asked.
"We will. We are heading to the hedge maze now," Lady informed him.
"Good luck with that. That place looks like hell," Dante informed them.
"I'll keep that in mind. Later," Lady hung up. "Ready girl's," the other two nodded. They headed over to the maze's entrance.
"It sure is dark," Patty trembled a little. Trish took Patty's hand and squeezed it.
"Big girls don't cry okay," Lady smiled.
"We just have to be careful. No splitting up," Trish commanded as she took Lady's hand as well. "There could be a lot of tricks here.
"We stick to one side, right?"
"Exactly. But knowing this place we may end up having to burn it down. I have a feeling that this place is alive."
"Great a plant demon. And father always said vegetables were good for you," Lady snickered. She found great joy in finding ways to demean her past. It was the only way she was able to overcome the trauma. "Come one. The faster we get this done the better."
"Okay," Trish began to pull the other two females into the entrance of the maze. It was extremely dark and the only light was from the lightening horizon and their flashlights. Clouds were gathering far above their heads. A storm may just be approaching this mad house. Trish felt Patty's hand tightened and she shined her flashlight forward.
"Ew," Lady walked forward. She still held Trish's hand. This is what happens when you drop the hairdryer in the tub. She examined the body below her. It was obviously fried. "Know anything about this," she joked to Trish. Trish shook her head.
"Even I'm not that cruel to Dante," she sighed. "Whatever did this wanted him dead and fast."
"Isn't that the guy on television," Patty asked as she forced herself to look upon the face of the dead man. He must have suffered a lot before he died. His face was contorted in agony. Most of his body was singed and his clothing was burnt.
"What do you know of him," Lady asked as they looked down.
"They were a group of paranormal investigators," she mumbled. "They were going across the nation in hopes of proving the existence of demons and spirits."
"So they found their way here," Trish let go of their hands and walked around the body. She found what she was looking for. A single camera lay on the ground. She tried to turn it on. It was dead. She smirked slightly and sent a tiny spark through the camera. It immediately booted up.
"Nice," Lady rubbed her nose and smiled at her friend. "Makes life easier, huh, Squirt," she elbowed Patty. Patty nodded. She still wasn't used to the sight of death. She forced herself to look at the body in hopes of getting over her fear. Before her laid the shell of a person. Someone she might never have meet but this person had touched another's life. That was enough for her to feel compassion for the dead man. Lady strolled over and began to search the man's pockets.
"What are you doing," Patty asked fearfully.
"Relax. I'm not robbing him," she pulled out a skeleton key. "Bingo."
"Sorry. I think I have double bingo," Trish replied. Lady stood up and looked over Trish's shoulder.
"Don't watch Squirt," Lady ordered Patty. She really didn't want Patty to see anything more gruesome than this body.
"I want to see it too," she joined the two women and Trish tilted the digital screen until they could all see it. It began with the man filming the maze. He cut a lot of the maze out. He was heard mumbling about a weak battery and how that was proof of spirits. He came to the center of the maze.
"Simply astounding. This place looks like it is untouched by time," he declared delightedly to the device. "I have just entered a dimensional rift or perhaps this is an illusion. It's amazing," they could hear his joy. He walked forward towards a fountain in the center of the maze's clearing. "Right now the camera says it is seven at night but when you look at the sky," he panned the camera up, the sun sat in the center of the sky. "He reached the fountain and looked down. "Wow," he looked at the glowing orbs. What are those," he asked as he plunged his hand into the fountain and grabbed an orb. He brought it to the camera lenses. "It appears to glow in a similar manner as some insects but it doesn't seem to be insect like. It is glowing a pretty blue," he told the camera.
"Great the idiot just pulled a demon egg from its nest," Lady sighed at the man's fatal mistake.
"It feels warm," he commented. The egg turned red and began to shake. In seconds it turned to ash and crumbled. "So this is an incubator of sorts," he said as the sound of his hand being splashed into the water was heard. "What the fuck," he jumped back as he was shocked from the water. "Damn it," he yelled. They assumed the pain was wearing down. The camera picked up a few sparks jumping off the water. There was more screaming and the camera turned around as the man ran. The camera bounce a lot and the heavy sounds of thuds could be heard as his feet fell. The hum of electricity could be heard. The entrance of the maze could be seen but it was soon blocked by a shadow. The original world was defiantly back.
"Oh my God," the man pleaded. He knew this was it. He could be heard panting heavily. The sound of rumbling was heard as the camera was jumped around. "Quetzalcoatl," the man screamed as he flashed the camera towards the demon's face. Indeed it was a feather serpent. Its scales were a rich gold and the feathers rivaled a peacock. In second it began to glow and then the camera fell to the ground as the man screamed in agony. The camera stopped bouncing and a feathered tail could be seen making a sharp turn around the maze. Soon the footage ended. Trish dropped the camera.
"Wow," Lady looked around the maze.
"Wanna bet it is still here," Trish smirked.
"Oh no doubt about it," Lady smirked.
"But why is it here," Patty asked.
"Right Dante never filled her in," Lady sighed. "The owner of this place did rituals. He probably allowed this creature the use of his garden."
"Looks like it was trying to hatch a brood. I could use a new snakeskin purse," Trish smirked as she took Patty's hand and began leading the group through the maze. Trish shined her flashlight ahead of them. "I'm not a fan of gardens," she tossed her light to Lady.
"Take all the fun see if I care," she caught it with ease. Trish smirked and shot her gun to the right. Patty flinched at the closeness of the screech that was heard. A demon sunk through the hedges.
"Is that a hedge wall," Patty shrunk to Trish's side.
"Don't be fooled. This is a nurikabe. Although this a strange mutation," Trish looked over the fallen wall carefully.
"Let me guess. You are familiar with these thing," Lady smirked.
"Ran into a few on my travel's. Their goal is to confuse travelers. I bet this place is full of nurikabe."
"Great," Lady sighed and tossed the flashlight back to Trish. Patty looked one last time at the wall.
"Does this mean this maze is constantly moving?"
"Looks like it. Man what a pain," Lady kicked a hedge to test it. "This could be a doozy," she sighed.
"Not as bad as Dante's debt, right," Patty cheered.
"Ha. Good one kid," Lady laughed.
"Which way," Trish said seriously. They had spent about ten minutes wandering after coming across the wall. There was a fork that went into two directions. Trish shined the light in both directions. The one ahead of them trailed on. The one to the right looked just as promising. "Great."
"I really don't want to split up. I have a bad feeling about doing that in here. It may just end up being a nasty trap. This snake thingy sounds like bad news," Patty spat out in confidence. The two hunters looked at each other and smirked.
"Everything here is bad news kid," Lady smirked. "Let's just take the one on the right. What kind of maze goes in one direction anyway?"
"It is true but if we go we stick to one side. I'm sure we'll figure it out later. Just be on the lookout for those pesky walls."