Sacrestar: Hope the waiting hasn't been too painful. I'm glad you liked it so much. Hope you like this chapter as well.

Jb: Not a chance of me forgetting this story. It's just be a busy time at work and often I get home too tired to do the story any justice. I thought things were slowing down but apparently not. Please just bear with me.

Author's note: Well at long last another chapter. This is for the Vergil/Lady fans. I wouldn't want them to feel slighted. Enjoy.

Vergil headed down the hall, intending to wait downstairs for Cassandra to return. As he passed the room in which Lady was resting, a noise caused him to pause. It sounded like she was . . . laughing? It was an odd sort of laughter, devoid of the slightest bit of humor. It was an anguished empty sound. After a brief hesitation, Vergil knocked.

"Lady?" he called softly, "Are you all right?"

The only answer he received was another bout of that eerie laughter. More concerned than he liked, Vergil eased the door open. Lady was indeed tucked in her bed and though she was the source of the laughter, she was sound asleep. He studied her so intently that he was alarmed when she spoke.

"Mary died a long time ago. My name is Lady."

Again, the laughter started but this time it quickly turned to tears.

"Goodbye Father."

Vergil had never known that someone could cry so hard but remain asleep. He never knew that a woman's tears could affect him so profoundly. Vergil disliked it when Cassandra cried, would do almost anything to prevent it, but the clear satin drops making their way down freckled cheeks was nearly more than he could stand. He, who had been said by many to have a heart of ice if he indeed had a heart at all, was deeply moved by Lady's tears.

Cursing his weakness, for such damnable pity could only be a weakness, Vergil strode to the side of the bed. Tentatively, he laid a hand on the sleeping woman's shoulder giving her a gently shake.

"Lady, wake up," he called sharply.

Lady started, her eyes snapping open. Almost from nowhere, a gun appeared in her hand. If Vergil did not possess his unusual skills, she would have shot him in the head before she was even truly awake. As it was, he caught her wrist, pointing the gun away from both of them.

"Damn it, woman!" Vergil snapped, "Calm yourself."

Lady froze, staring at Vergil with wide eyes. Tears continued to fall from mismatched eyes though Lady seemed unaware of them. Slowly, she turned her head, her eyes drifted to the gun still held tightly in her hand. With a convulsive shudder, she let go, the weapon falling to the bed.

Vergil frowned as he looked down at Lady. The woman acted as if all her wits had left her. Gently, Vergil took her chin in his hand, turning her face back to him. "Lady?" He still held her by the wrist but his grip gentled and the gesture became one more of comfort.

For a long moment, Lady was silent, but then she began to speak in a soft, flat voice.

"I hated him," she began, even as more tears fell. "My mother loved him. He didn't just kill her, Vergil. He tortured her. He made her suffer as much as he could. He drug it out so the blood sacrifice would be found worthy. I was the one who found her. I had been out with friends. I came home, she was lying on the floor . . ., and there was so much blood. It covered nearly everything in the room. I'll never forget her eyes. They were so wide a-and empty."

Vergil slowly sat next to Lady on the bed. She was still wearing the loose cotton pants and t-shirt Cassandra had loaned her. Her face was red from her tears but to Vergil it only emphasized how brutally the innocence had been ripped from this girl.

"I know," Vergil said softly. He did know. Perhaps not in full gruesome detail but he had made a point in finding out enough to know that it hadn't been pretty. His informant had told him that the daughter had discovered her mother's body but at the time that hadn't mattered to him. After all, what was one mere human girl to him? Now, he wished he could have prevented her from seeing that.

Lady shook her head. She didn't know why she was telling him this. She'd never even told Dante this much. Now, however, she couldn't seem to keep the words in.

"I still don't understand it," she whispered, "You fought Dante but I know you came to his aide when he fought my father. Don't tell me it was all for your own benefit." Mismatched eyes locked with his. "No matter what else, you'll always be twins. Your blood bonds you."

"We are the sons of Sparda, and within each of us flows his blood, but more importantly, his soul!"

Vergil could hear the words his younger brother had spoken during their final battle echoing in his mind. At the time, Vergil hadn't understood what Dante had been trying to tell him. Now, he did.

"Yes," Vergil acknowledge in a hoarse whispered, "But there were moments where it was a close thing. I wanted power just as your father did."

Lady laughed bitterly. "Your reasons were far nobler even if your methods sucked. Nothing can excuse what he did." Looking down at their joined hands, Lady continued. "After you defeated him, my father fell from the portal. He may have been able to survive his wounds," Lady shrugged, "I don't know. After everything he had done, my father tried to convince me to help him. I killed him, Vergil."

Lady looked up into Vergil's ice blue eyes and even in her pain thought that they were beautiful when they had softened as they were now. "He didn't regret what he had done. He considered my mother's murder a small price to pay for his power. I looked him in the eye and I shot him." Finally, emotion leaked into Lady's voice. "I emptied the whole clip into his head! And I mourned him!" Lady cried, squeezing Vergil's hand, "I mourned him after everything he did. I cried for him!"

Lady began to sob, letting it go. Awkwardly, Vergil pulled her into his arms, telling himself it was no different from comforting Cassandra. Ah, but holding Cassandra had never felt this good.

Lady accepted the comfort. She'd been unable to accept Dante's compassion but she took it now from his frost bitten older brother. "Now, I have nothing."

Vergil pushed her away slightly so that she could meet his gaze. "That's not true. You have Dante. You two became a family. My idiot twin would never have stayed in one place so long otherwise. Now you have a friend in Cassandra." Vergil paused and his voice dropped to a whisper. "You have me."

Lady's eyes dropped to his mouth and before reason could interfere and talk him out of what he was about to do, Vergil leaned in and kissed her.

Vergil had had a few women. Those, however, had been rare. He had been much too caught up in his little bid for power. When the urge had struck him, Vergil had seduced nameless women, leaving their beds long before the sun had risen. This was much more satisfying.

After one little gasp, Lady surrendered to the kiss. Her mind demanded in a rather shrill voice for her to explain exactly what she was doing but her body happily ignored those higher functions. It may have even flashed her mind the finger.

Vergil wasn't gentle. His kiss demanded her complete surrender. His tongue plundered her mouth and his arms wrapped tightly around her, pinning Lady against his chest. When she wrapped her arms around him, a small groan escaped him. It was enough to startle him back to reality. Vergil released Lady abruptly, nearly leaping from the bed.

"I-I'm sorry," Vergil muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I'll uh let you get some sleep now. Goodnight." Vergil fled the room in an uncharacteristic cowardly fashion.

Lady stared in silence at the now closed door. Her heart raced in her chest and she could still taste him on her lips. Her body ached with the need for more.

Finally, she shook her head. "Like I'm going to be able to sleep now."

Cassandra's heels clicked softly as she strolled casually down the street. She could feel the demons moving in the shadows. The redhead could taste their anger and frustration and their need to rip her to shreds. Come and get it fellas.

Deciding she had toyed with them enough, Cassandra turned right into an alley. She stopped in the middle and waited. Cassandra heard and felt them surrounding her and was a bit disappointed when she didn't sense something a bit more powerful. This was going to be too easy.

Raising her head she smiled at the pack of Prides who crept ever closer cocky in the belief that they had her cornered.

"Hmm. Mundus must be hard up if this is the best he could send," she remarked boredly, "I expected at least some Marrionettes or a couple of Shadows." Cassandra gave a dainty shrug. "I guess I'll have to content myself with you."

The first Pride swung its scythe, which was what Cassandra had been waiting for. Gracefully, she dropped to the ground, dodging the attack, while sweeping out with one muscled leg, knocking the nearest demons to the ground. A quick handspring bought her more room to maneuver. She drew her blade, feeling the bloodlust singing through her veins. Vengeance hummed its satisfaction in her hand echoing the call to battle. Cassandra welcomed the feeling, clearing her mind of all else as Vergil had taught her. Five minutes later, she was surrounded by little more than piles of sand.

Cassandra sheathed Vengeance observing the carnage with satisfaction. A slow clapping filled the alley and Cassandra spun in the direction of the disturbance.

Cassian stood on a fire escape flanked on each side by a Shadow. "Well done, Cassandra. You possess great skill. A testament to Vergil's abilities I suppose." The cockroach gave her a sneer. "Too bad you betrayed the master. You would have been a valuable asset."

Cassandra gave Cassian a perceptively pleasant smile. "Yes. It's such a shame that Mundus must content himself with a coward like yourself. Why don't you come down here so we can play?"

"Wishing to avenge the death of the younger son of Sparda are we?" Cassian gloated. "I hope his death was slow and agonizing. I've heard that it's an agonizing death. The poison breaks down the body's defenses and at the very end rots the organs, which turn to mush. I'm sure he died screaming." Cassian shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to hear it."

Cassandra took a step forward. "Not at all," her lips twisted into a condescending grin, "Dante lives."

That caught the giant insect by surprise. "Impossible!"

"You wish." Cassandra shook her head. "Mundus is always underestimating the strength of Sparda's blood."

"You lie!"

Cassandra shrugged. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. You'll find out the truth eventually I'm sure." She flashed a nasty grin in Casian's direction. "I know you love suspense."

Cassian snarled and motioned the Shadow's forward. "Dante may have cheated death but maybe you won't be so lucky, bitch. Kill her!"

Cassandra hissed as Cassian disappeared. One of these days she would kill him, this she vowed. Cursing, she turned her attention to the Shadows. One Shadow was a pain in the ass but two were a nightmare. She rolled, just escaping being smashed as one of the Shadows took hammer form. Vengeance flew into her hand as she shifted, taking devil form. Glowing blue eyes narrowed, and Cassandra tightened her grip on her bastard sword.

"I wanted a challenge," she muttered, "I got it."

Vergil paced slowly back and forth through the living room. His mind drifted back in forth between his confusion over what had happened between himself and Lady and his concern that his adopted little sister had not returned. Cassandra had been gone for nearly three hours now. Vergil could sense that the demons that had been laying siege to the shop had left no doubt in pursuit of Cassandra. If she didn't show soon he'd have to go look for her.

As if she had heard him, the door opened and Cassandra strode through the door, a satisfied smile on her face.

Vergil ran assessing eyes over her relieved to see she was unharmed. In fact, she was looking very pleased. "Enjoy yourself?" Vergil's voice was low and tense.

Cassandra removed her coat tossing it onto a chair. "Oh yeah. I killed some demons, worked off some steam, and best of all got to piss Cassian off."

Struggling to hide any sense of alarm or irritation, Vergil raised an aristocratic brow. "Cassian?"

Cassandra shrugged. "He showed up after I killed a pack of Prides. He wanted to gloat over Dante's death." She snickered. "Oh, did I enjoy setting him straight on that account. Pissed on his parade but good."

Vergil shook his head. "You need to cautious, little one. Cassian is a backstabber and a coward, but he's cunning backstabbing coward."

"I'm going to kill him," Cassandra vowed with a voice of steel. She locked eyes with Vergil. "I owe him. For what he did to you. For what he tried to do to me. For Dante."

"Speaking of Dante," Vergil began.

Cassandra cut him off with a groan, walking past him. "I don't want to talk about this right now, Vergil."

"Tough shit."

The redhead spun around, unaccustomed to such language from Vergil. Vergil took the opportunity to grab her shoulders and give her a little shake. First Cassandra disappeared, and then she sauntered back in as if she had simply gone out for a stroll. It was more than the already stressed Vergil could handle with any pretense of serenity.

"I don't know which of the two of you are more stubborn," he snapped, finally allowing his frayed patience to show. "You scared him, Cassandra! I may be used to your impetuousness, but he's not."

"Like he's any different," Cassandra snapped back, trying to pull away from Vergil and failing.

"You're right and you both scare the hell out of me at least once a week!" Vergil retorted, "Now he knows how I feel when you pull one of your stunts." His voice softened. "Dante only reacted like he did because he cares about you."

The bluster left Cassandra. Her shoulders relaxed in Vergil's grip. "I know."

Vergil finally released her then watched as she walked a few steps away running a hand through her hair. She turned spreading her hands in exasperation. "I don't know why he makes me so mad. It really hurt me when he said those things."

Vergil smiled. "How do you think he felt when you said you were leaving?"

"I meant it," she replied. She paused then sighed. "At the time I did anyway."

Vergil chuckled and nudged her in the direction of the stairs. "Dante's sleeping but I promised I'd send you up when you came back."

Cassandra smiled sheepishly before heading up the stairs. Vergil watched as another soft chuckle escaped him. Cassandra was so much like Dante. Maybe Vergil wouldn't be the only one left with gray hair. Cheered by that thought, the elder twin headed to the back yard to practice with Yamato. Perhaps the exercise would clear his mind of his other little problem. Perhaps he had been right all along and women were more trouble than they were worth.

A bastard sword is a medieval weapon that is longer than a short sword but shorter than a broad sword. It can be wielded with one or two hands which makes it a mix of the two swords thus the name of bastard.