CH21 – Demons and Doorbells
Pale blue eyes stared wide open into the night that drifted away too fast. Sooner than he wished the last shards of darkness would give way to the first light of dawn, and yet he could not get himself to move. He felt her beside him, her steady heartbeat pumping the warmth that seeped into his chest, his strong arms wrapped possessively around the calmness of her sleeping form.
Slowly, gingerly, he shifted his head a little closer, lips carved into a resolved line placed a trace of a kiss on her wildly fanned out hair, not enough for her to feel it so as not to wake her up. But she would not even give a stir as he had made sure to tire her to exhaustion so that he could leave all undisturbed and unnoticed.
Vergil pulled away from her, letting a more noticeable than habitual expression of satisfaction glide over his nobly shaped, aristocratic features. The girl had nearly made him sore after her begging had turned into voracious demands for him to expel her past demons until they were haunting her no more. And to his undisclosed pleasure, were there a lot of demons to expel! Her demure nervousness had morphed into the zeal of an Amazon warrior and she had him enter her over and over again in the hotness of the whirling water, until he had had to take her away from there and into her cool bed from fear that she'd burn up and expire from his spirited, incinerating efforts.
Even whilst carrying her to her bedroom she had not allowed him to break their physical connection, making him remain deep inside her as if she could not have him again if she had let go, as if she had somehow known what was to come.
Vergil frowned, for a moment considering whether leaving her now would only carve a deeper damaging blow to undermine her regained trust in life, and in him, enough to hate him and withdraw again back into her solitary world. But he knew that she was strong, strong enough to trust a devil who had been damaged himself to patch her up. But had he done enough?
Making love to her longer in one night than being forced to deploring all the Hell's whores combined in the four years of his imprisonment, Vergil too felt something healing within. The sense of his worth, a purpose for more than just a pure survival started to scrape its way to the surface of his existence once more. The daylight nightmares had not come back to haunt him and had not turned him into the abhorrent animal that he had begun to despise, so he had been left free to attend to Rain relentlessly as if their unlikely union held the power over all the evil that ruled this world and Hell alike.
There was still one remaining evil though that endangered them both, that endangered her and he could never sleep, not even in his grave if he had let anything happen to her now. She had become his conscience, the very essence he needed to recover his lost life, even if for just a day or a few hours. Even his death would now be remembered, not lost to soon forgotten whispers as it had been the first time his soul had nearly died. She would not forget him, not after last night…
A curling finger sunk into the golden silk of her hair to brush it from her gentle cheek, then touched the soft flesh of her lips fleetingly, regretful eyes stealing one more glance at the happiness that endowed her face.
Forgive me.
His trembling lips descended one last time and felt the heat still instilled in her rosy cheek. Then, like a ghost that had no solid form, Vergil slinked off the bed and stood up, straightening in all his glory.
Tall and stark naked he set off for the on-suite bathroom with an unfaltering stride when a sudden thought brought him to a halt and quirked the corner of his mouth into an insidious sneer. He'd not waste precious time on washing when he was already wearing a provocative perfume suited for a Queen. He'd leave the potent scent of sex on his body, go without showering, to incense the wench of Hell even further by a blatant statement that he had given a mere human what he had denied all along to a powerful Queen.
Even if he could never do it again.
Then, without the pain of one more glance cast towards her Vergil vanished, abandoning Rain to an empty house as he had done so many times before.
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Sunlit eyelashes fluttered in the bright stream of light seeping through the large bay windows. A low grumble resounded from under the unruly mop of hair that shifted across a white pillow, mouth stretching out into a satisfied smile.
The dream, it was like nothing she had in her life and it was so divine she would give anything to dream it every single night. It was a fusion of all her daydreams and fantasies put together and yet it felt so awfully real, that she could swear it had actually happened. Such an unlikely change from her usual nightmares that she must have slept long way into the day, something she had not done for a very long time.
Rain stretched like a cat under the warm snugly blankets, feeling all naked and pleasantly tired, and strangely physically aware of the pulsing, swollen soreness between her legs…Her eyes snapped open wide, hand shooting up to shield against the sudden terrible brightness coming from the windows that nearly blinded her. Her head pounded slightly and belatedly Rain realised that what she had dreamt about wasn't a dream.
The scent of their lovemaking still lingered in the air, enveloping her and sticking to her senses like a perfume of a heavenly seduction that she wanted to inhale from now on instead of pure air. She could still feel him inside of her as if he had never gone and she even carefully lifted the blanket to peek under but there was nothing there. Blushing profusely at the ridiculous notion that the half-devil could somehow snake all the way around her…
Rain quickly turned around but he wasn't there. Disappointment clashed for a while with reluctant relief as Rain had not before woken up with a man beside her, naked and all headily in love that was, and her shyness returned on the double. But too soon disappointment won the battle and she longed to feel him next to her, wanting to just lie there in his protective embrace, for the first time truly living, not simply surviving from one day to the next.
Why did he have to leave again? Did last night meant nothing to him or was it engraved in his very cold nature to disappear at the break of dawn and for her to never wake up beside him?
Coldness touched her fingertips as her hand stroked the sheets where Vergil had been laying when night still soared on its dark wings outside. The moon had shone low and luminescent then, casting an iridescent blue-silver sheen over their entwined naked bodies and over his brilliant white hair that had hung loosely down and over his face slightly submerged in shadows. As he had been devouring the skin on her neck whilst otherwise engaged very deeply, her head had been tilted, her blurry eyes barely taking in the sinful view of the divine silhouette of his incredibly shaped form that tautened and wreathed with a godly-like elegance and transcendence above her own in the massive, gold-framed sidewall mirror next to her bed.
The racy memory itself made her quake both in shame and in fervid longing to feel him on her again. Oh Lord! She was a downright pervert! He mother should have been just about now breaking out of her grave to give her a good righteous spanking.
Rain rolled onto her back and squashed her face in with both pillows. I never turned out to be the daughter you had always wanted. I started killing demons against your wishes and now I am doing such despicable things with one of them. Oh, I am so sorry mother, as I want to do it again and again. But where the hell was he?
Rain finally lifted onto her elbows, glancing about the sun drenched room. As far as she could see there was no note that he'd normally leave and she checked the whole bed and under the pillows, even bending over too peek under the bed in case it fell down.
He must have been in the shower or down in the kitchen and was going to walk in any minute with a tray full of strawberries and chocolate melted over pancakes for breakfast. And maybe some more of that elegant pink champagne to flush it all down with.
"Vergil?" Her voice called quietly, then louder into the empty stillness devoid of the slightest of sounds.
Did he fall asleep somewhere? He didn't get drunk and fall into the freezing pool, did he? Well good!
Unless devils couldn't actually swim? Dammit, she was no doubt working herself up for nothing. But just for future peace of mind, maybe she could concoct some binding blood serum to stop him from randomly vanishing? Rain slowly pulled the blanket from her body, instantly rediscovering her nakedness that shot up a healthy infusion of colour into her face.
Jumping off the bed, Rain quickly run to her dresser and threw over a loose white t-shirt, not bothering with anything else. She had to get downstairs and make sure that Vergil wasn't a frozen corpse. After all, he had been filling her with undiluted satisfaction ever since the sun went down all the way to the depths of the night. Surely he must have been exhausted!
Alarm bells ringing in her ears, Rain legged it across the corridor and to the ragged ledge that used to be her staircase when she saw a string of shadows flick past the window of the main entrance door. Quickly ducking behind some jutting out railing, Rain felt a terrible dread pass through her stomach. Either way the one night of having a splendid, incredible taste of life was over. The blatant reality of what was meant to happen today swam right in at the sight of the gloomy silhouettes rising behind the door.
The Queen of Darkness was still very much alive and so was her need to obliterate them all, and she had most likely sent a fresh gathering of demons that were now lurking at her door. Without thinking Rain jumped down to the centre of the foyer, about to spring for her swords that were still somewhere in the training room when the melody of her doorbell rung sharply to cut through the still and dusty air.
Hang on, since when had demons rung the doorbells? Dante! And Raymond! They were coming to go to the portal and she was standing there half naked, scented with sex, and totally, shamefully caught off guard. The consideration to run back to her bedroom and get properly dressed and washed was overshadowed by the thought of her clothes still strewn across the floor of the gym, not to mention her lacy forest green panties cut up in half by Vergil's razor-sharp sword. And of course by jumping down so recklessly she cut herself off from going back up in the first place! Damned demons wrecking the place!
Rain glanced at the door in panic, circling frantically on the spot for a few seconds before sprinting like mad to the training room.
Bare feet squeaking on the polished hardwood, Rain came to a skidding halt to pick up her discarded kimono and quickly pulled it on. The conquered panties were discretely placed in her pocket and one more strawberry found its way to her hungry mouth when Rain was about to dash back but something missing stole her attention.
There was no trace of Vergil's clothes, not even the torn up shirt or his oversized katana. It was as if he had gone outside but what was so important that he couldn't wait till she woke up? There was plenty of food in the fridge and there was no more next of kin turned to demon trying to spoil their everyday enjoyment of still breathing. So what was so urgent for him to leave her in the middle of the night? Didn't he understand that it didn't mean the same to wake up alone? Or was it written in that damnable demonic book that the male species had to be a total jerk after finally seducing the female? She really had to get hold of a copy to make any sense of him!
The sound of the doorbell echoed loudly through the house again, more urgently this time, cutting her off from her conflicting thoughts. Rain grabbed her sword from the floor in case demons had actually learned manners though if they abided by the same book as Vergil this seemed extremely unlikely, and hurried back to the door.
When she pulled on the doorknob and carefully peeked out, a large splash of confident and unmissable crimson dominated her porch, backed up by another equally tall splodge of brown leather to the left and a smaller shading of white to the right.
"I don't want to be a jerk, but next time could you come to the door a little faster? I was about to kick my way in, fearing the worst when you weren't answering," Dante berated Rain instead of a greeting, barging in past her to have a good look inside with his handguns coming out to play from behind his flapping trench as if expecting her to be in danger.
"Hi sis, don't worry, he's been on edge the whole morning," her brother said calmly, giving her a peck on her cheek before following Dante inside.
"Yeah, and the whole evening. I've never seen him devour three pizzas at once. Well, actually only once, but that was right after losing his…well, I am sure it's because of going to Hell. I mean who wouldn't be," Lady said casually albeit a bit crankily as she hugged Rain briefly before too squeezing her way inside the villa.
"Hey guys. Oh, yes, come on all in," Rain quickly commented, checking that there was no one else outside to join the queue, then closed the door behind her and turned to the crowd.
Dante finally seemed to stop searching the place with his supernatural senses like he was looking for some sinister cause of her delayed response but couldn't find any, so he cut his gaze back to her as he re-holstered his twins with a skilfully blinding spin. His darkened blues gained an instant splash of brighter hue, the abrupt change nearly knocking Rain into taking a startled backward step.
"Ah, sorry babe, but I have been having these weird jitters, like I have missed something that was right in front of me or somethin but I couldn't quite catch it, and then it was too late. I hate that bloody feeling. But you are fine, so I guess it was nothing." He shrugged but his eyes paused on her appearance with a completely new and dedicated interest, running down to her bare legs and then back up, pausing at her visibly braless chest and stopping at her messed up, bird-nest-like hair finally.
"Whoa! Nice outfit! Say, did we just wake you up? No hard feelings babe, but I thought that you'd be all up and itching to see me off on my exciting excursion to Hell," he said quizzically, his trademark grin sprouting wide on his sensually curved lips.
To Rain's vivid discomfort all three of them were now looking at her with suspiciously probing eyes as if she was standing there all nude and smoking something that might have been illegal.
"Oh uh huh, what's that…?"
Rain froze as if she was thrown into that cold as arctic pool again, gazing intently at Dante's nose that loomed ever so dangerously closer to her, invasively so as it made a shamelessly deep inhale, instantly making her deeply aware of the scent that must have smelt to a devil's inhuman senses like a freshly sprayed perfume to a hound.
"He so didn't do that to you! I never thought he'd actually do it!" Dante exclaimed, his voice breaking from low to high as if he was just coming out of puberty.
"What? What do you mean? What did he do to her? What did he do! I am so going to kill him if he laid his hands on her!" Ray suddenly jumped in, panicked expression racing across his face, his hand nudging at Dante, demanding an explanation.
"I'd say he laid a lot more than just his hands on her," Dante elaborated with an expressive wiggle of his eyebrows.
"What the hell? The Dark Slayer dared to hurt my sister and you are smiling about that? What is wrong with you!" Ray exploded in a puff of fury. "I should have never left them alone. But I always took him for too honourable to hurt a human woman…"
"He means she got laid like in 'had sex', dum-dum," Lady interjected, rolling her eyes.
"Oh. Oh! That dishonourable bastard! He didn't think to waste any time," Ray exclaimed in honest outrage. He was going to have that brotherly chat with the elder son of Sparda and now it reached a whole new level. He sure didn't expect to have that kind of a chat!
"Hey, that's my bro you are talking about. He's not dishonourable," Dante cut in, omitting the bastard part.
"Actually I think he took his bloody time," Lady remarked argumentatively, waving her hand in the air with a casual interest, hiding the hilarity that fought to invade her voice.
"Hey, that's my little sister you are talking about and there is always all the time in the world," Raymond protested sharply.
"Yes, actually I am right here…not that anyone noticed," Rain tried to interpose futilely.
"You turned out to be awfully protective for someone who doesn't even know what sex is," Lady grumbled derisively, now struggling to hold herself back from laughing.
"Contrary to your opinion I am fully versed in the art of sex. I am simply not accustomed to your crude way of expressing it," Ray's voice was all politeness, injected with an inch of hurt pride.
"It wasn't my wording," Lady corrected, mildly insulted.
"Hey, I am not crude! I have standards," Dante protested.
"And if you think you are such an artist in other pursuits than sculpting perfectly good looking people into hideous demonic creations than prove it," Lady dared Rain's brother, leaning closer with narrowing, fiery bi-coloured eyes.
"As you wish." Raymond shrugged off her insult, then scooped her into an embrace of his muscled arms and shut her up with his mouth.
"Ray?" Rain's jaw detached with incredulity as she watched her older brother working Lady's lips in such a skilful way she had not seen anything quite like it. In fact she had not seen this side of her brother at all, where on earth had he learned this? Funny but she had always taken him as this cheerful, dazzling and flamboyant boy, never as a man, until this very disturbing moment. And he was quite the looker, even on par with Vergil and Dante.
"Lady?" Dante just stared at something he had not witnessed ever since he met Lady.
"Dante?" Rain turned to Dante confused.
A muffled, unintelligible mumble came from Lady who not only was not reaching for her guns but to add strangeness to oddity was actually entwining her fingers in the rugged sea of gold that was Raymond's hair, seemingly enjoying what he was doing.
Dante finally snapped his gaze from the rare sight, or more like a non-existent sight of Lady kissing anything, not to mention an ex-demon who she had repeatedly said she had despised and was disgusted by, and turned to Rain.
"So, where is Vergil?" Dante asked casually, shrugging off the engaged pair.
"He…he left I think…," Rain said distractedly, tilting her head in sync with her brother's truly artful and fascinating movement of his head and lips, watching as Lady was completely melting under his touch, her attention solely held by him. Quite disturbingly, Rain began to wonder if she could learn a thing or few from him and try it out on Vergil.
"What is going on with those two?" Rain still gaped at the kissing couple, entranced by the sudden turn of events. Hadn't Lady hated her brother ever since he had tried to send her to Hell? And was he now making up for that by seemingly giving her a tour of Heaven instead?
"Don't ask me. Lady didn't shut up about him being a murderous demon all morning long and he was surprisingly patient and polite about it all, so I guess she found someone to argue with safely, unlike with Vergil, and he finally found a way to shut her up," was all that Dante offered, grinning from ear to ear.
"Then I am kind of glad Vergil hasn't tried the same tactic with Lady." Rain blinked, finally tearing her eyes away from the brother whom she scarily didn't know everything about as she had thought.
"Nah, trust me, Vergil uses quite a different method to shut someone up, and it's usually permanent. But when it comes to women, his way is normally to steer well away unless he finds a very good reason to stick around." Dante let out a knowing chuckle. "Speaking of which, I hope he didn't give you a hard time, I mean the darkly blue demonic kind of a hard time?" Dante raised his eyebrows worriedly.
"No, quite the opposite actually," Rain gave out a quiet sigh with a rising blush and punched Dante gently in his shoulder for asking such a personal question.
"So he held it together?" Dante nodded to himself in thoughtfulness.
"Well, he held me pretty together from dusk till dawn," Rain admitted smilingly with a strange ease, finding this casual and non-perverted side of Dante a lot better to talk to but at the same becoming weary of this uncharacteristic tone of his that took on a more serious, almost foreboding turn. Just where was he going with this?
"And then he left you?" Dante asked surprised. His brother might have been a dork at times, but he knew how to show a lady good time when he had no intentions to kill her. One thing his brother possessed was some screwed up sense of manners which admittedly might have gotten a little rusty due to his long absence from the human world but despite his prolonged stay in Hell he would have never abandoned his inborn and drilled to the bone sense of honour. Oh crap! Sense of honour! "And he didn't say where he was going or didn't leave a note?"
"No. Is that expected? I mean is it also in that demonic book you mentioned? He did leave notes before, but that was before…well, you know," Rain twiddled her katana in her hands nervously in front of her, growing anxious from Dante's sudden line of questioning and its rather intimate nature.
"No, it sure isn't in the book, but it sure is in his damned head. I think I know where he went. I so should have seen this coming," Dante said with a self-rebuke evident in the tone of his voice as it took a deep dive to a low mutter, the light in his eyes dimming sharply to a darkly ominous shade as he looked at Rain.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! I have seen it coming! But I thought that it was about you," Rain cried out suddenly, giving her katana a tight squeeze till her knuckles turned white, now nearly matching her paled face as all the colour drained out of it.
Ray and Lady had meantime stopped kissing, now gazing agape at Rain and Dante, their hair a mess and faces red from their interrupted proving of a point.
"What are you talking about?" Dante asked cautiously, not liking the possibility that Rain knew what he suspected as he was going to try and come up with some less painful alternative possibility.
"Yamato showed me," Rain said sternly, her eyes flickering at him all nervous and confused.
"Yamato what? Sorry babes, but that's impossible. Yamato can only speak to those with Sparda blood," Dante said gently, hoping to persuade her that whatever she thought she had seen was only an illusion or perhaps her nerves. Besides, what he said was true, Yamato didn't 'talk' to just anyone, especially not to pure humans.
"I know. Vergil gave me some of his blood when I got infected by…well, your creations, Ray." Rain bit her lip as she looked at her brother guiltily as if it was her own fault.
"Hold on there, he let you use Yamato?" Raymond remarked incredulously with a small smiling twitch of his mouth, purposefully steering away from the 'infected' part, and catching on what Dante was trying to do, to not let her think the worst.
"Yeah, so he gets soft and now he storms off to Hell alone? That figures," Lady snorted.
"Wait a darn minute. You seem to be jumping to some quick conclusions here," Dante snapped at Lady holding out a hand as if to stop the words he knew were true from coming out when it was too late, seeing Rain already try very hard to hold something back, as if stopping her mind from working so as not to fall apart.
"No, she is right. We all know that Vergil went to Hell," Rain finally said after a minute of silence, despondence burning cold in her voice.
"Well it's pretty obvious. He always liked it there from where I was standing four years ago. He chose his fate in that shithole over you, Dante, and then you ate your three pizzas to get over it, remember?" Lady mumbled darkly, not quite knowing why she felt so prickly all of a sudden, whether it was from letting down her angry façade by kissing someone she should have been hating instead, and actually liking it, or whether Vergil's blatancy has finally rubbed off on her.
"My Lady, you don't have to be pleasant when it comes to the Dark Slayer but please, be considerate to my sister. Don't make me spank you, I am pretty well skilled at that too." Raymond sent Lady a smouldering smile though his eyes held an honest warning.
"Yeah, yeah pretty boy, drop the 'my' and don't expect me to turn into a saint from one peck on the mouth. You might have turned out interesting, but you are human now, and unlike you, Vergil was never forced to do anything," Lady grumbled grimly.
"He was forced plenty, perhaps more than anyone would ever dream about. The things they made him do there, that I made him do, would have sent anyone else to an early grave or to a sanatorium a hundred times over," Ray admitted glumly, eyes snapping to the ground ashamedly before moving to Rain as if in some degree of reassurance that Vergil had this stubborn habit to survive.
"Forced or not, I know he did this for me. And I should have stopped him or I should have gone with him, which is what I am going to do now," Rain announced resolutely, about to storm to the door when Dante stopped her with his hand grabbing her arm.
"Not without your knickers you ain't or all Hell will break loose, literally," Dante could not help but smirk inwardly at that amusing thought but then turned all serious again. "And what are you going to do there exactly, ask him politely to come back home? Before you could even find him, let alone convince him to abandon his honour, you would be dead, with or without that poison in your blood."
"Poison, what do you mean poison?" Ray cut in abruptly.
"The poison in Vergil's blood which Rain now has as well," Dante elaborated.
"Probably the one that keeps Vergil's blood at sub-zero all the time," Lady cranked up a jeering smile.
"Nah, that's all natural," Dante dismissed Lady's comment mirthlessly with a wave of his hand. "The one I'm talking about is what the Queen gave him as a leaving present. You know that it would kill you if you got anywhere near her, even if you could get that far to start with," Dante pushed it a little harsher than he liked as he would be damned if he let Rain go in there even if it meant she'd hate him for it.
"I am not asking for your permission, Dante. I am still going," Rain said firmly, now visibly shaking.
"Oh, that old trick? I've had an antidote for that for years!" Ray announced happily, only then realising that he had just given his sister the more reason to go hunting after Vergil and get herself killed.
Or more like given her a reason to kill him as she suddenly turned to him with a Vergil lookalike death glare he had not ever seen on anyone else. "You mean you had a cure all this time and you kept it to yourself? You knew he was poisoned, didn't you and you didn't do anything!" Rain's eyes gleamed with the wrath of a thousand tortured souls as she gripped her brother's shoulders and began to shake him.
"Rain? You know that me and Vergil weren't exactly on good terms back then, right? And how exactly was I supposed to know he would decide to go and tempt fate in a no-win situation? He is normally a lot more calculating than this, you know?" Ray argued mildly as he took her wrists gently in his hands and pulled her away from him.
"No kidding," Lady added in a snide tone and Ray reached behind to give Lady's butt a painful, controlling pinch, feeling her flinch.
"I know and I am so sorry. I don't know what's come over me. It's just…that I am so scared. I am so scared Ray," Rain let out sobbingly, holding back the tears that threatened to betray her as she collapsed like a heap of flesh into her brother, embracing him desperately, her forehead dropping to his broad shoulder.
"Shhh now, don't be scared. You are not alone anymore, remember?" Ray murmured softly into her hair, stroking them as she clanged to him like the little girl he remembered and it felt good to her not to have to be strong like she had always had to be for the past eight years.
"I know I am not alone but I am so scared that I will never see him again. I don't think I could ever not feel alone without him." Long overdue hot tears finally spilled out and soaked into his leather armour. "I should have stopped him. I knew he was up to something and I didn't do anything!" Rain cried out more angrily, her fists starting to pound into her brother's chest in desperation at the desolate feeling of hollowness that began to overcome her.
"If you have tried to talk him out of it, he'd only knock you out and go anyway," Dante tried to lower her guilt, and his own as well, unsure of what else to do.
"Yeah, he knocked me out pretty good! So that he could leave!" Rain yelled between her sobs, not caring if they saw her like this, only angry at her own naivety that her life might have had a happy ending.
"He will be just fine babe, Verge is tougher than anyone I know and he'll likely outlive us all," Dante tried to put on a consoling tone, even believing what he said in some twisted way of fate.
"No he won't! It's not what I've seen. And as you said, I'd never be able to catch up to him now! It's too late!" Rain's voice screamed with frustration and fright, shaking in her throat. She would have collapsed as her mind struggled to process the meaning of it all if it wasn't for Raymond holding her up.
"I might come to regret this but it might not be too late. There may still be a way to save him," Ray's voice held a soft, brotherly undertone as his large hand brushed down her dishevelled hair, a wicked smile slipping to his lips when her head instantly lifted and her crying emerald eyes looked at him with such a dampened, hopeful light.
"It won't be easy by any means, but remember how I said that I could sneak in unnoticed, disguised as Kuro?" When Rain nodded incapable of anything else in that moment, he continued. "Well, having once been a complete scumbag comes at a great advantage. Not only I know a nifty little shortcut that leads straight to the centre of the castle which Vergil would not have known about, I can also direct the portal to a much closer place to the Queen's residence. Let's say that this would gain us at least a half a day over Vergil who'd have to walk at least for several hours but also fight his way through hordes of demons, which we won't have to," he said with a cunning shade in his eyes, his entire face gleaming evilly.
"Hang on there pretty boy, who do you mean by we exactly?" Lady crossed her arms on her chest, giving him a blue brown glare.
"Well, whoever wants to join this risky and most likely fatal expedition of course. And I am the first one to volunteer," Ray said cockily, his green eyes passing over the three standing in the foyer, hiding the secret rush of vengeful elation he was feeling. He was going to thank Vergil later for creating such a great opportunity for them all to participate in the Queen's inevitable downfall. If they could get to Vergil in time, there would be no stopping the vengeful Dark Slayer, and they would all get to watch her permanent dethronement.
"Wait Ray, we have been through this. You are not going. You can tell me where to go and I will take the antidote to Vergil," Rain attempted feebly to quell her bad feeling that she had inadvertently got everyone to rush to their deaths though she knew that dissuading anyone now was already a lost cause.
"Sorry sis, you don't get to choose anymore. It's my plan, my antidote, and we are both going," Ray said with an unusual finality in his voice, stunning Rain even more by implying that he was not objecting her coming along either.
"And so am I, since I was going anyway." Dante shrugged with a heavy heart, seeing no point to argue those two out of it, since Rain would not stay here without Vergil, and Ray would not stay here without Rain. Stubbornness and suicidal bravery must have run in the family, not that he was one to lecture.
Although he was so close to going to remind Rain about their talk earlier, there was something in her eyes that told him she'd rather die than not go after Vergil. Perhaps hers was the very same reason Vergil had to try and finish it all by himself. Who knew that a devil who banished the human emotions from his world would now find them as a reason to get himself killed…
"That goes without saying," Ray nodded at Dante in acknowledgement that without him they'd be royally screwed, before his lagoon green gaze landed hard on Lady.
"Oh, so am I. With that bitch running things in Hell the way they are, I'd never be able to go on that vacation I planned," Lady justified her reasoning by muttering, thought she was not sure what to do with that strange tug of fear she felt in her gut at the slight chance of not being kissed like that ever again if lover boy here decided to get himself killed.
No one had ever swept her off her feet before, not even close. Any and all wishful suitors instantly run away at the earnest opportunity, usually right after getting one ounce too much of her relentlessly angry mood which in turn made her angry even more. But Lady had not met anyone who intrigued her so suddenly and surprisingly, and who dealt with her so fearlessly that she had forgotten to breathe. She'd better keep an eye on this one herself since he didn't look all that tough to her without his demonic hideousness and obviously needed her protection. After all, all men were idiots when it came to proving something or rushing in to fight.
"But just so we are clear, if you pinch me again, I will have no qualms about shooting off the offending fingers," Lady grumbled, not quite ready to admit that she'd rather prefer the said fingers doing something else entirely.
"As enjoyable as that sounds, I think I'd rather aim for a different kind of reaction by using those fingers for something else entirely," Ray mouthed into her ear huskily as if he had read her thoughts which made Lady freeze as he set off strolling past her towards the door.
Before Lady could retaliate with another smartass remark however or realize that the ex-demon had induced her into blushing with a single sentence, Raymond was already at the door, giving them all one last instruction. "I suggest we meet at the church in twenty minutes. I am going to fetch the antidote and bring it there."
"I guess I should go and change then," Rain quickly suggested and took a trot towards the broken stairs, glancing back at Dante suddenly as there was no way for her to get to her clothes without a little help. "Dante, would you, please?" She asked merrily as if readying to go dancing with someone she liked for the first time.
"And don't forget to take a hot shower, little sister. Even my spell can't hide the strong scent Vergil left all over you," her brother made sure to mention with a rather healthily glowing sheen on his face, happy that he could oblige her excited mood before he disappeared outside, slipping out through the door.
"Ray!" Rain yelled at him in frustration, redder than a crimson rose in full bloom that bloomed to bursting but her attention was instantly redirected to Dante as he approached her with a face-splitting grin and hoisted her in his ever tautened, pumped up arms with an enthusiastic abandon.
"He's right you know. I mean just how many times did you two do it? For goodness sake, from what I can tell there must be like dozen worth of…"
"Dante!" Rain yelled at the red clad twin in outrage, wondering where she had gone wrong to be inundated with this whole new dimension of torment that seemed worse than the menace the whole Hell could conjure and then some, making her redder than his coat. She had no idea how to talk sexy, not to mention dirty and to find out how easily it came to her brother had her think that maybe one of them must have been adopted. On the other hand, wasn't Dante the opposite of Vergil in this sense too?
But was that really Ray's normal self, or was it some sort of a coping mechanism to overcome his acts as a demon? No matter though, whatever worked and kept him alive was good enough for her, and it seemed like his no-messing-about, outrageous behaviour was doing some good to Lady as well, which would make her lay off Vergil if she got laid by her brother which Ray in turn could use to lay off his inner demons. Dammit, could any of them be more damaged if they tried?
"Okay, I'm going to get fully loaded with ammo and will meet with you at the gateway to Hell, as much as I can't believe I am saying this," Lady waved them off as she too made for the door.
Suddenly horrified, Rain's eyes widened beyond physically possible at the thought that the trigger happy Lady would forget that her brother was now fully certifiable human. She was going to have to have a good chat with the fiery huntress and utilise all her skills of diplomacy, without getting herself shot in the process, to ask Lady politely not to inundate him with bullets every single time he was going to overstep her boundary which, from what Rain had seen so far, would not take much effort at all.
Oh God, they will get there first and while alone, Lady will shoot him for sure!
"Oh, come on," Dante whined pleadingly as he jumped with Rain to the higher floor. "You can't torture me like this, I thought we were friends." He didn't pay the closing door any attention as he felt Rain slipping from his grip since she suddenly struggled to get free, about to fall to the rubble-filled oblivion below.
"Torture you? If you were my friend you'd stop torturing me!" Rain complained, her feet dropping to the ground just as the ledge appeared to Dante's secret relief, Rain already moving fast toward her bedroom.
"But that's not fair. Verge will never tell me anything. I can't go fighting the whole Hell with this huge, unsatisfied, unanswered, nagging void hanging in my head and distracting me at every single turn. Knowing myself, I will lose concentration in the middle of saving Verge's ass and instead start asking him what his sword has been up to lately…"
"OK, fine! If you get me to the portal before Lady gets there, save Vergil, and my brother walks out of there alive and Lady too, I will tell you what you want to know," Rain said hurriedly without any thought, disappearing through her bedroom door.
"You want me to help you wash? You know, to speed things up?" Dante called out after her, his grin gaining enormous proportions at the sweet taste of Rain's hasty promise.
"Don't push it." Rain's head popped out of the door before it vanished again.
Dante heard the water rushing somewhere beyond her bedroom door as he stood there leaning against the wall. He closed his eyes and his thoughts strayed to Vergil. Could his dumbass idiot of a brother have gotten it any more wrong? How exactly did he manage to not learn from his unforgettable past mistake of leaping headlong into Hell when the odds had been less than favourable? How could he have thought that leaving Rain here alone after all that they had been through and think that she'd be happier safe but without the one she loved? This is exactly the time when honour should have been ditched, letting common sense and the heart take the centre stage. That was something Dante knew a lot more about, yet Vergil would never ask for help, or take an advice.
And now, as if irony had a name day his older brother had set in motion the one thing they had been trying to avoid. They were now all marching on a field trip to Hell, and one of the Kamura were meant to end up dead, either Rain or Raymond. Did he have it in him to save them both, to save them all, now that he could not stop them from rushing to their deaths? His ever so slightly shaking hand reached to his face and fingers traced across his scowl marred forehead.
I could have sorted it all for you brother, at least this once in a lifetime. You could have let me take up some of the weight off your shoulders. And now it could be too heavy for both of us.
Dante sighed and opened his eyes to look away, towards the outside windows. Maybe he should have tried harder, back then, in Temen-ni-gru. At least he had now been given one more chance, and this time, he would drag his brother's ass out of there in time if it killed him, something he should have done then. But he understood now what he hadn't understood then, that the longer you sit and wait to simmer and let the steam out, the further things drift away…
At the end of the day they all went there for something and it was all far from what one would expect to find in a place like Hell. Vergil had gone there to regain his honour and to make amends for his past, Rain to get her life back and to reclaim her love, her brother to heal his mind and perhaps to reclaim his honour as well, Lady to finally feel something other than hate, and Dante? Well, Dante would go there to get back his family, and then to have enough ammunition from Rain to tease Vergil back to death of course.
Still, let's just hope that they would all get out of there alive and only then worry about whether they have brought back what they wanted.
The water stopped and soft steps padded across the floor. Dante turned his head back and soon Rain dashed out of the door, all dressed in her black combat clothes with hair damp and tied up into a single flowing braid so as not to hinder her in combat, all ready to kill in more ways than one. She looked stunning yet so clueless and unaware of the fact that a tear almost run out of his worry filled eye. Dante though quickly snapped back from his grim brooding, putting on his cheerful and cocky mask.
"Damn, that bastard has no clue how lucky he is. He couldn't have been rescued by a sexier vision if he tried," Dante exclaimed as his eyes feasted briefly on her curvy frame hugged in a skin of black, jumping ashamedly straight back to her face as if Vergil was standing right next to him, piercing him with a stony death glare.
"Well, I don't know about that, after all you are coming along," Rain said humbly, avoiding his gaze to refrain from blushing at the first ever compliment she had received, and at the resulting good feeling. Her mother had always taught her that compliments were empty words that were meant to fill up missing deeds. But this was not always the way, Rain realised, as Dante was not coming up empty on anything, be it words or deeds, and Vergil, he had been dead slow on the compliments but quick on the deeds, so how could one be easily guided by a single truth in a world that was so diverse and distorted?
"Yeah, you got a point there, but I am not sure if Vergil would quite see it that way. I don't think I'm his type." Dante winked at her before they both jumped down to the floor of the grand hall, Dante almost leaving a cracked, cobweb-like hole behind while Rain landed as softly as her brother.
"Whoever saves him doesn't matter. I only wish he would walk out of there alive," Rain's voice was thin as they strode to the front entrance and Dante opened the door.
"He will, thanks to your brother. Isn't it ironic? The worst demon the Queen has ever created would now in turn serve as her worst nightmare and kick her bony ass off the throne by curing Vergil." Dante slipped outside and went straight to his brightly red bike that was parked in front of the villa.
And I was the one who saved Raymond. Am I the one to die?
"Dante?" Rain called out to him in a strangely subdued tone, causing him to pause in apprehension as he sat on his bike and only turned his head to her half-way.
"If I die in Hell, would you…would you tell him that I loved him? I have not had the chance to tell him before he left," Rain said softly, peering at the ground, embarrassed.
The half-devil in red stared at her for a whole while before he answered. "No."
"No?" Rain stood there uncertainly, looking at his profile that so reminded her of Vergil, nearly drilling a hole in his stubbly cheek, wanting to shave it off.
"You can tell him yourself," Dante said more harshly than he intended and turned away to glare in front of him.
"But what if I…"
"You are not going to, kay? If you still insist on going, then get on and let's get going," Dante said flatly, bringing the engine to life and revving it up so that he would hear no more.
There was no way he was going to get that added to his plate as well. It was enough having the responsibility of protecting two, no – three humans in Hell and now he was supposed to be delivering the pointless good news to Vergil if anything happened to her? And what was he meant to say? Sorry Verge, she loved you but I took her with me and she died? If she was so desperate to go against his wishes then she could at least have the decency not to die!
"Sorry Dante, but I have to be there," Rain said quietly, slowly sitting down on the seat behind him as if afraid he'd speed off and leave her there.
"Yeah, I know. We'll get everyone back, don't worry."
They were silent after that, all the way to the old church in the third circle of the city. Rain embraced Dante from behind fully, not just by his coat like she had done with Vergil. If she could ever ride a bike with the blue clad twin again though, she'd squeeze him so hard he'd have to heal real fast from broken ribs.
When they arrived, Dante pulled up by an old, unused garage that he used to hide his rose-red baby in and then they both stepped inside the rundown place of worship. To Rain's relief there was still no sign of the other two and so she and Dante sat on a church bench in front of the altar in wait.
Soon after, the sound of another motorbike resounded outside and two sets of steps entered the main part of the building, echoing hollowly against the stony walls. Rain whipped round and stood up, seeing as her brother and Lady walked in, Lady armed to her teeth and Ray only carrying some kind of a travelling case.
"You arrived together," Rain called out more matter-of-factly than questioningly, surprised undertone etched in her voice.
"Sure we did. Lady's ammo was at Dante's and so was my antidote," Ray told her casually, pulling something out of the bag.
Rain rolled her eyes inwardly at her own stupid naivety. She had been worried they'd get here first and be left alone when they have been alone all this time? And they seemed perfectly capable of coexisting, even looking happier than ever. Had Lady even let him drive her bike?
"Ready?"
"Haaaaaa," Rain let out a startled gasp as her brother already jabbed her arm without waiting for her response.
"That's to stop you from dying straight out, and this should keep you from harm for at least…well, until someone figures out you are not actually a demon," Ray said jokily as he put away the needle, slotting two more antidotes for Vergil in his belt just in case the half-devil in blue needed a larger dose. He was not going to hand them to Rain in case she'd run off with them in some frantic search for the Dark Slayer in Hell. All in good time, Ray thought as he then handed his sister some kind of a bluish drink in a narrow tube.
"Bottoms up." Ray passed a separate drink to everyone else, including one for himself.
"So we are all going to smell like you? No offence, but ew!" Dante made a grimace, sniffing the concoction suspiciously.
"None taken and not quite. You will be more scented like my deceased ex-demonic counterpart," Ray informed them politely.
"Like that's supposed to be any better?" Dante raised an eyebrow.
"It looks disgusting." Lady furrowed her brows.
"It's not permanent, is it?" Dante asked, worry carved in his voice.
"Look here, it's not permanent and it's not…well, yes, it's quite disgusting, but would you rather have the whole Hell on your rear as soon as we get there? Dante is at least partly demon but there would be no telling how soon we'd come across any old acquaintance familiar with the famous perfume of Sparda which is far more on the demand list than the blood of a human," Ray said in a firm voice, looking up at Rain at his last words, realising that this could not have been exactly comforting.
"So drink up and let's go," the ex-demon quickly digressed, making the point to gulp down his own potion before closing his suitcase and readying to go.
The three soon followed suit, reluctantly drinking the bluish cocktail with disgusted faces.
"Woah! Talk about a nasty déjà vu!" Dante shouted suddenly, nearly reaching for his guns on instinct at the potent odour that was hurled at his senses.
"Great, so it works." Ray nodded happily.
"What? I don't smell any different," Lady said doubtfully, sniffing at her clothes and shaking her head.
"Trust me sweetness, you do. You stink like a vile, skanky demon. Whew!" Dante pinched his nose and waved his hand in front of it.
"Hey! Watch it. Nothing can top the stench of your week old socks. And everyone can smell that!" Lady retaliated with narrowing eyes.
"Well then, now that we established what we all smell like, let's get on with the real fun shall we? Follow me to the lower level…and don't step on anything," Ray instructed them and began to head towards the partly broken archway leading to a set of narrow stone stairs.
When they descended to the sub-basement of the abandoned church Ray lowered one knee into the thin layer of dust covering the stone floor and set to reprogramming the portal, deftly turning only specific symbols off while leaving others on as if solving an intricate and diabolical puzzle that would reveal a heavily guarded ancient secret.
"The portal would close behind us as I mentioned, but I think I can reopen it from the other side." Ray explained slowly without looking away, feeling their questioning eyes bore into the back of his head.
"You think you can reopen it?" Dante asked abruptly.
"Well, I cannot say I know I can open it since I have never tried it before," Ray explained calmly. "But I will bet my behind that I can," he added thoughtfully.
"Well, aren't you quite the handyman." Lady commented, tilting her head to get a better view of the finely sculpted angles of the said behind.
"From my many uses, you have seen but a few."
"Oh? So what else can you do?" Lady questioned curiously.
"Apart from sculpting humans into demonic creations you mean? Glad that you should ask. But better yet how about I show you when we get back. I have this new idea I'd love to try…"
"Brother! Please, are we not in a hurry?" Rain pleaded in growing anxiousness, feeling the time tick away.
"My dear sister, I never waste any time when it comes to true romance." The former demon looked up at Rain with a comforting smile, and then shot a seductive glance at Lady. "The portal is now ready," he announced, rising to his feet. "Dante, if you please, it is time to activate it," Ray said, his voice gaining an ominous tone.
"All right, let the party begin. Step this way everyone to enter the ride of your lifetime!" Dante approached the subterranean altar, the symbols on the ground beginning to glow. Before he set a foot on the stone lit up with a dark blue light he turned to Rain who was already nearly bumping into him, queuing to be right behind him.
"Hey, before we rush in, what did Yamato show you exactly?" Dante turned her face to him and then took hold of Rain's shoulders and his calming, confident eyes locked on hers.
"Well, it was all quite fuzzy but there was a long, fierce battle and a lot of death, and then…then…there was just so much pain…despair and terrible devastation," Rain's voice broke with the last words and yet again she struggled to hold the tears that demanded to be pushed out to mar her cheeks.
"Peachy. So let's go!" Dante announced enthusiastically and stepped into the portal.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The three tails of a silken blue trench flapped in the hot currents of the air. A tall figure stood upon a rugged rocky overhang, silently looking down below at the vast planes of the barren underworld, submerged in thought.
Even though there was no rush as Dante would not have woken up for several hours yet, Vergil had always resented idle and meaningless walks through uninspiring scenery. That was why it had taken him a relatively short time to discover a little handy passage, an unguarded shortcut that he could use to get to the castle much faster and unbothered.
Vergil might not have been the best in judging one's character which sadly included his own at times and this got him into a rightful mess more times than he'd care to admit, but when it came to observation of his environment he rarely missed a thing.
Still, he had to pass the Bridge of the Dead first and then, only then he would rain down destruction on the ghastly edifice and on the Queen.
Ice blue eyes drifted in a calm chilling softness to the long curved blade painted crimson from hilt to the tip, sensitive ears attuned to the sound of dripping that had trailed from the bales of demon flesh now surrounding the portal's markings in a silent whisper of death.
Soon, very soon Yamato would be drinking that vile blood of hers…
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A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing, you are the only reason why I keep writing. Also thank you for all the fav-ing and following, but feel free to let me know what you think at any time as it helps me to keep moving on, maybe even past this story!
You see, I spend on average 24 hours of solid writing on each chapter as this does not come easy to me, so when you find it in your heart to press that button it means so much to me! Even if you don't know what to say, just a few simple words make a huge difference to how I feel about what I am writing. Cause it is not as much what you say, although of course it is great to learn what you liked and thought, but just the fact that you press the button and say something makes it so much more rewarding!
B – Thanks so much for giving me a shout! :D What you say makes me grin like Dante! Well as an example I had no idea if the intimate scene was Ok, but your words made me sigh in relief :D
Guest – I don't think Trish would now make much difference and she would not know what the hell is happening, lol. Anyway, Lady found some other poor soul to pester now, including sexually, maybe :)